Dark Times
by Crazy Packers Fan
Summary: Mysterious black holes appear in the Pokemon world... can Cynthia and Sabrina work together to figure out who is causing them? Fourth story of my series; prequel to "Return of the Queen." Reposted.
1. On The Dark Side

Dark Times

A/N: This is the fourth story in my Pokémon fanfiction series (the previous entries being "Love, War and Games," "Mystery, Murder and Mayhem," and "The Elite Eight"). This is the sequel to "The Elite Eight" and the prequel to "Return of the Queen." It is being reposted to help you see the background to "Return of the Queen."

Chapter 1

On The Dark Side

Will came home to his and Sabrina's mansion after a hard day's of work at the Silph Company headquarters. The Silph Company had been working on all sorts of new items to enhance Pokémon attributes, and he was in charge of approving or disapproving of any of the items. Because Silph had so many intelligent scientists, they were able to come up with items that could completely change Pokémon battling as everyone knew it, and Will's job was to make sure no item would give a trainer an unfair advantage.

However, it was only partially his choice. Every day, he would bring home a list of the possible new items to his wife Sabrina, who actually was the one who had the final say on whether an item would make it to the market. Sabrina was very wary of items that could possibly cause her to be defeated, given her sparkling record in matches over the last three years (only 3 total losses, all in the Pokémon League tournament). This often led to clashes between the two over which items to approve.

"No, no, no!" Sabrina shouted.

"Oh, come on, Sabrina," Will whined. "You've refused to approve any item that enhances Dark Pokémon since I've been at Silph. It's not fair to trainers of Dark-types!"

"And you wonder why?" Sabrina asked.

"Yes, in fact, I do wonder why," Will replied. "After all, a good trainer shouldn't be so weak against one particular type that she's scared of them."

Sabrina gave Will a look of rage.

"Think about it," Will added. "I know you're strong enough that you can defeat Dark-types without needing Psychic attacks."

"That's not it," Sabrina sighed.

"Then what is it?" Will questioned. "The Silph president is getting mighty suspicious about why I always disapprove of every Dark-powered item."

Sabrina took a deep breath, while Will stared at her suspiciously.

"It's because Dark types are _evil_!" she exclaimed.

Both trainers laughed at Sabrina's explanation, but then Sabrina turned serious.

"I'm not joking," she added.

"What do you mean, you're not joking?" Will queried.

"You know how I've always said that everyone has psychic powers, they just don't realize it?" she asked.

"Yes…" Will responded.

"Well, that's not necessarily true," she explained. "There are the rare people who have Dark powers. Those people cannot have any sort of Psychic power whatsoever, because Dark powers are the exact opposite of Psychic powers."

"What's your point?" Will asked.

"Almost everyone has psychic powers," Sabrina continued. "But there are the few – the very few – that have Dark powers… and it's my belief those few are the true evil people in our world."

Will looked at Sabrina closely for a second, trying to see if her expression would change. Then he broke out laughing.

"I'm serious!" Sabrina protested.

"Oh, come on, Sabrina, tell me two people with Dark powers who are evil," Will remarked. "Karen was one, and she is now in jail. You can't name another one! You're basing this all on one person, and that's just wrong!"

"My theory existed long before we knew Karen was working for Team Rocket," Sabrina responded. "I've gotten that feeling that there's a reason Dark powers weren't even discovered until after Team Rocket's first appearance in our world."

Will thought back – way back – to the very first time Team Rocket had appeared in the Pokémon world. Something about a few bumbling idiots trying to catch a Pikachu… no, Jessie, James and Meowth turned out okay. It was Giovanni who led tons of Rockets all over Kanto in an attempt to steal Pokémon, but eventually he failed and was forced into hiding. He remembered that back then, there were only 15 types – Dark and Steel were not among them. Maybe there was something to Sabrina's theory…

"No," Will said. "You're just crazy."

"Will…" a persuasive Sabrina pleaded.

"Sabrina, I can't keep on disapproving of every single Dark-type item we create," Will replied. "I am putting my stamp of approval on the Black Hole, an item that will increase Dark powers up to 200% - the limit established by the Pokémon League on all attack-enhancing items."

Sabrina sighed again. "Fine, go ahead," she told him. "But don't come crying to me when you can't beat a Dark Pokémon ever again."

* * *

><p>The following day, it was unusually peaceful and quiet at the Pokémon League headquarters at Indigo Plateau. The reason? Lance and Lorelei had gone on their honeymoon to the Sevii Islands, meaning there was no one for Giselle to argue with. That meant that Giselle just relaxed in her lavish apartment, while Joe and Agatha had a Pokémon battle.<p>

"This will be a one-on-one Pokémon battle," Agatha announced. "Choose your best one."

"Go, Victreebel!" Joe yelled as he sent out his newly-evolved Pokémon.

"Gengar," Agatha called.

"Razor Leaf!" Joe shouted.

"Hypnosis," Agatha said.

Gengar tried using its Hypnosis on Victreebel, who shot out its Razor Leaf attack towards the Ghost-type Pokémon. In the end, Gengar found himself barely standing, while Victreebel fell asleep.

"Dream Eater," Agatha commanded.

Gengar then began to viciously attack Victreebel in its sleep. The Grass-type refused to wake up, as Gengar continued to attack.

"Return!" Joe shouted, as he called back his Victreebel.

"What's the point?" Agatha asked. "This is a one-on-one battle. You automatically lose!"

"No reason to let my Pokémon suffer in the vain hope that he wakes up and comes back to win the battle," Joe replied.

"Oh, a softie," Agatha muttered.

Joe bristled at Agatha's remark. "Giselle would defend me," he responded.

He then thought about his own comment closer. "Actually," he added, "Giselle would have won."

"Ha! I doubt it," Agatha replied. "That girl's overrated."

"When's the last time she lost?" Joe asked. "I can't remember."

"Maybe she wins a lot, but she's not too bright," Agatha answered. "She can't run this league! Name one accomplishment of hers since she's been champion!"

"How about saving our headquarters by fighting off the giant Pokémon when Team Rocket attacked?" Joe snapped. "I watched her do it firsthand!"

"I'm talking about leadership abilities," Agatha explained. "She doesn't have any! She can't make the right decision in an important situation! Just wait until there's an important choice she has to make… she'll make the wrong one, and screw up this league for good! You just watch!"

Agatha walked away, cackling as she did.

"Am I the only one with faith in Giselle?" Joe muttered to himself, as he walked the other way, towards Giselle's apartment. "I really think she's smarter than people give her credit for."

As he walked to her apartment, he thought about all the times the two of them had been through, and how, in nearly every situation, Giselle made the right choice.

"Agatha doesn't know what she's talking about," Joe commented.

He arrived at Giselle's apartment and knocked on her door. He got no response at first, but he kept on knocking. Finally, after a couple of minutes, Giselle came to the door.

"I'm sorry, Joe," she told him, as she quickly pulled her hands behind her back. "I've just been feeling a little… um, ill lately. I couldn't get to the door."

"It's okay," Joe replied, wondering when Giselle came down with this illness – it must have been overnight, because she had been fine the previous day. "Do you want to have lunch with me?"

"I'd love to," Giselle said, "but the way I'm feeling right now… I can't be out in public."

"It would be a private meal, just the two of us, here at the headquarters," Joe added.

Giselle frowned. "I really want to," she told him, "but I just don't feel well enough. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay," Joe muttered. "I hope you feel better."

"Me too," Giselle added, as Joe left.

She stared down at her hands, which had a strange dark radiation emanating from them.

_What is this?_ she thought to herself, quite worried about whatever this energy was.

* * *

><p>In the Sinnoh League headquarters, Lucian and Cynthia, were supposed to be having a discussion about league matters. However, their talks rarely revolved around anything to do with the league, or Pokémon at all, for that matter. Cynthia told the other Elite that she respected Lucian so much that she valued his opinions the most of all of them, and that was why she wanted to talk to him privately. That was only partially true.<p>

"Your blonde hair is so precious," Lucian told Cynthia, running his hand through her hair.

"Not quite as cute as yours," Cynthia replied.

The two moved closer together, then engaged in a long kiss.

_"You're so beautiful," _Lucian told Cynthia psychically.

_"Tell me something I don't know,"_ Cynthia responded telepathically (as a little-known fact was that she too was a psychic, as she had been awakened to her psychic powers recently).

Suddenly the two were interrupted by what sounded like a rushing wind. They broke away from their kiss and rushed outside of their room. Opening the door, they saw a giant black hole in the middle of the league headquarters, and they watched as their Elite colleagues were being drawn into it. All three of them were standing very close to the black hole, while Cynthia and Lucian stood about 15 feet away from it.

"Bertha!" Cynthia cried, as the oldest of the Sinnoh Elite helplessly was drawn right into the black hole with little resistance.

"Get away from that!" Lucian shouted to Aaron and Flint, but both of them ended up getting sucked into the black hole as well.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here," Cynthia told Lucian, grasping his hand and rushing for the exits.

They felt the black hole sucking them back towards the middle of the room, but Cynthia was just barely able to pull Lucian out of the front door of the headquarters. They kept on running, while the rest of the building began disappearing right into the black hole.

* * *

><p>Erika was tending to some plants in her gym. The Yamato Nadeshiko-type always made sure that her gym looked as beautiful as possible. She also knew that it impressed her boyfriend Brock, the Pewter City gym leader who had become more mature in recent times and finally chose one woman to be with. She hardly left the gym, however, as she actually lived here, sleeping among her plants and flowers.<p>

"Miss Erika!" one of her assistants called to her.

"Yes?" the kind Celadon gym leader replied.

"We have some grim news relating to the Celadon Department Store!" the assistant exclaimed.

"Oh?" a concerned Erika responded.

"There were many shoppers there today, when suddenly a black hole engulfed the inside of the store, and everything and almost everyone disappeared!" she shouted. "The entire inside of the building is empty now, and there were only a few people who escaped to tell the story!"

"That's terrible," Erika said sadly. "Who could have possibly done something like this? I thought Team Rocket was disbanded!"

"No one knows," the assistant responded. "We also have word that a similar event occurred at the Sinnoh League headquarters, so we think that they are targeting well-known places in the Pokémon world. It is possible that they could go after you as well… so please, take shelter somewhere where you won't be found."

Erika thought about it for a moment. "Actually, I will stay here for the moment," she commented. "I am going to call up someone who would know very well about these type of powers."

* * *

><p>"Yes, I know, I heard the news too," Sabrina said on the phone to Erika. "This comes only hours after Silph Company announced their new product, the Black Hole, which gives unusually strong powers to Dark-type Pokémon."<p>

"Do you really think that they can attack anywhere they want?" Erika asked.

"A Dark-type Pokémon cannot attack from long range," Sabrina explained. "It must be very close to its target in order to effectively attack. The attackers must have been actually in the buildings at the time of the attacks, and found a way to escape."

"But why would there be attacks in two different lands?" Erika questioned. "The way it seems to me, the one or ones who did these attacks could have been anywhere at the time of them."

"Maybe there were multiple attackers," Sabrina responded. "I'm not really sure, but I suggest you take proper precautions."

"Which would be…?" Erika wondered.

"Stay in a building made of steel," Sabrina replied. "Dark powers are not strong enough to go through steel. Neither the Celadon Department Store nor the Sinnoh League Headquarters were made of steel."

* * *

><p>It was only minutes later that Sabrina heard knocking on her front door. She figured it was Will, but then she wondered why Will would knock on the door before entering it. So she walked to the door, opening it to find Cynthia and Lucian.<p>

"From psychics to psychic, we've come to ask for your help," Lucian told Sabrina.

"Black holes are destroying parts of the Pokémon world, and we'd like to team together with you to help figure out this mystery," Cynthia added.

"I would be glad to work with you two," Sabrina replied. "I will admit to you that I do not know much about Dark-types and their attacks."

"That's fine," Cynthia said. "We psychics can work together to beat even our biggest nemesis."


	2. Accusations

Chapter 2

Accusations

Joe had become increasingly concerned with his girlfriend Giselle's health, because she had not contacted him for a whole day. That was a real shock, as Giselle usually couldn't go a few hours without bragging to him about something. So he went back to her apartment, knocking on the door again.

"One moment please," Giselle told Joe from the other side of the door.

After a minute, Giselle opened the door. Joe noticed that she was wearing white fashion gloves.

"You're always keeping up on the latest fashion trends," he remarked. "It's so good to see you. Are you feeling okay?"

"Uh, yeah, sort of," she replied.

Joe followed him into a room with a TV, where the two sat down on the couch together.

"Have you heard these reports about black holes?" Joe asked her. "People are in panic everywhere."

"I don't see what's to be scared of," Giselle replied. "It was one of those one-day things, I doubt it'll happen again."

Joe looked at Giselle, confused. "Agatha wants to know what you plan on doing about it," he told her. "People want to hear from the Pokémon League champion."

"Let them eat cake," Giselle responded with a laugh. "If Team Rocket has returned, they did so very stupidly. I'm sure Silver and Gold and all those goody-goodies will sniff them out and snuff out their torches before they can do anything."

"I thought we were considered part of those 'goody-goodies'," Joe mentioned.

"Maybe you," Giselle said, pointing at him. "I don't fall into any of those minor categories – I'm the champion!"

Joe sighed. "Giselle, I'm worried," he told her. "I don't want to be sucked into a black hole myself… I want to feel safe again."

"Would you relax?" Giselle snapped. "There's nothing to worry about!"

Joe then reached over to Giselle's hands, pulling at one of her gloves.

"What's the matter, Joe?" Giselle asked angrily. "Don't you like my gloves? Am I not beautiful enough for you with them on?"

"No, I just wanted to touch your hands," he responded.

"Well, how about – hands off!" she shouted, pulling her hands away from him.

Joe looked aghast. "This isn't like you at all, Giselle," he remarked. "You really must not be feeling well."

"You got that right," Giselle replied. "And, in fact, I think it might be best that you leave before you catch what I've got."

She began to guide him towards the door, when Joe noticed something.

"You haven't coughed or sneezed once since I've been here," Joe mentioned. "How are you not feeling well?"

"It's something else that I don't want to talk about," Giselle responded. "Now if you would excuse me, I have some beauty rest to catch up on."

As she reached out to grab Joe's face and kiss him, he pulled on her right glove, taking it off. And when he did, he noticed something strange on Giselle's hand.

"It's… it's a black hole!" he shrieked.

Giselle quickly slipped the glove back on her hand. "Yes, yes it is," she replied. "And so what?"

"Giselle, are you… are you the one who created those black holes and killed those people?" Joe asked with fear.

"No, silly," Giselle replied. "Haven't you ever heard of Dark powers, as in Dark Pokémon? Apparently I have them, but I don't know how to control them yet."

"Don't know how to control them?" Joe yelled, exasperated. "That means you very well could have created those black holes!"

"Look, Joe, I didn't!" Giselle snapped. "Now let me be until I figure out how to control these new powers of mine."

Joe stood there in silence, while Giselle reached out to kiss him on the cheek.

"Now you keep this a secret until I've got everything figured out," she told him, before closing the door.

Joe nodded, but he didn't agree. He was telling Agatha the instant he saw her.

* * *

><p>Lorelei and Lance were sitting on the beach of Four Island, where they were enjoying their vacation from the Pokémon League. Lorelei spent her time staring off into the sea, while Lance spent his time staring at… Lorelei. He couldn't keep his eyes off the purple-haired beauty in a bikini.<p>

"Isn't this great, being away from Giselle?" he asked Lorelei.

Lorelei laughed. "I still don't know why you hate her so badly," she replied, adjusting her glasses. "She's really not that bad of a person."

"She's so annoying," Lance protested. "Come on, you can't actually think she's cut out to be _the leader of the Pokémon world_?"

"She's earned that right," Lorelei responded. "I guess if you want to have that power, you've got to earn it."

"Maybe we shouldn't give so much power to someone just because they're good at Pokémon training," Lance suggested.

"I don't see anything she's done that's been harmful to our world," Lorelei commented. "Except maybe spend a little too much of our budget on her wardrobe."

That was when Lance received a call on his cell phone.

"Why am I getting a call from Agatha?" he asked. "Why can't she just leave us alone?"

He took the call anyway.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Lance, this is about Giselle," Agatha said.

"The one person I _don't_ want to hear about," Lance sighed.

"We have reason to believe she is responsible for the murder of about 100 people yesterday," Agatha continued.

Lance took the phone, looked at it, then turned it off.

"Who was that?" Lorelei asked.

Lance did not respond, just waiting for a minute for Agatha to call back.

"Look, I finally figure out how to use a cell phone, and you do something like that to me!" she screamed. "Listen to me, that awful girl is sucking people into black holes!"

"That sounds pretty ridiculous," Lance responded. "But if it involves getting Giselle out of power, I'm all for it."

Sabrina and Will sat with Cynthia and Lucian in their dining room, having tea. They were discussing what to do about the current situation, with Will in a state of protest.

"That product we introduced – the Black Hole?" Will commented. "It hasn't gone out to market yet, and even it isn't strong enough to create black holes like that. It was just intended to enhance Dark-type attacks. The name was simply a coincidence."

"Don't worry, Will, we know that," Sabrina replied. "Unfortunately now the whole population heard the name of your product and now is associating Silph with these problems."

"These black holes were not created by Pokémon," Cynthia added.

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"The way Dark Pokémon attack, they force Dark powers out, not pull objects in," Cynthia explained. "The black holes must have been created by humans."

"So you think that someone at the site of these places must have used their own powers to cause these attacks?" Sabrina questioned.

"Not necessarily," Cynthia replied. "I believe that these attacks were caused by someone who could use their Dark powers from long range."

"I didn't think that was possible," Sabrina remarked.

"If someone has strong enough powers, it may be possible," Cynthia suggested. "Or, perhaps, if they cannot control them…"

* * *

><p>Janine, the daughter of the late Koga, and niece of the late Aya, was in the newly-rebuilt Violet City, watching the television nervously at her house. The reason? Her boyfriend Falkner had gone to Celadon City the previous day to pick up some rare supplies only found at the Department Store, which he planned to use to help his Flying Pokémon. As it turned out, that was the same day that the building was engulfed by a black hole, killing most of the citizens inside.<p>

She sat there in tears, watching Kanto news to see if there was any mention of Falkner being one of the survivors. He had not returned since the previous day, so she had every reason to believe that he, like the others she had loved, had been killed as well.

How much heartbreak could one girl take? First, her own father Koga was killed right before her very eyes, by Giovanni. Then her aunt Aya was killed by someone, presumably not Silver, who promised her that he had not been Aya's killer (the late Butch was actually the one who had killed her, with Janine unknowingly taking revenge on him, killing him just for being a Rocket).

But suddenly her heart jumped, for she heard great news about her boyfriend.

"Falkner, gym leader of Violet City, is one of the few survivors of the attack on the Celadon Department Store," a television broadcaster said. "However, all of the survivors are being considered as suspects, so he is currently being held at the Celadon police station."

It did not take much to get Janine angry. The thought of Falkner being accused of something that he obviously could not have done was enough to make her furious. She grabbed a few of her belongings, then set out to catch the Magnet Train at its new stop in Violet City.

* * *

><p>Lance was already packing up all of his things, ready to go back to Indigo Plateau, but Lorelei protested.<p>

"I wanted a honeymoon," she pleaded. "Let's not allow something like this to ruin it for us."

Lance gave Lorelei a serious look. "This is the chance I've been waiting for, to get Giselle out of the Pokémon League," he told her. "Whether she did these things or not, we can get her pushed out, and restore the Pokémon League to its former glory. You can't resist this opportunity!"

"Very well then," Lorelei replied. "You just promise me that after this is over, we'll come back here."

"I promise you, Prima," Lance said, calling Lorelei by her nickname.

The two then moved together for a kiss. Lorelei's cold lips touched Lance's warm mouth, and the Elite trainers shared one last moment of their shortened vacation together.

"Are you ready?" Lorelei asked him.

"Let's go," Lance replied.

* * *

><p>Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic, turned on a large video screen in front of him. He and his colleagues had been jailed temporarily, but the Galactic members were released after not enough evidence was found to convict them of attempting to destroy Sinnoh, not to mention someone pulling the strings for him.<p>

On the screen before him appeared a league champion.

"I have followed through with the opening portion of our master plan," he said. "My request is to know how I follow through on the completion of our project."

"Be patient," the league champion replied. "I have everything under control. You just wait and see!"

The screen turned off immediately, causing Cyrus to sigh. This is not what he had bargained for; he wanted to be in charge. Nevertheless, he knew that if he wanted to gain power, he was going to have to follow this league champion's advice for a while. Unfortunately for him, it looked to be a much longer process than he had hoped.


	3. Fighting Strategy

Chapter 3

Fighting Strategy

Janine arrived in Saffron City via the Magnet Train and immediately made her way over to Celadon. Upon arriving there, she found the police station within minutes and entered it, demanding to see Falkner.

"We're sorry, we can't let you talk to a potential criminal," Celadon's Officer Jenny replied.

In an instant, Janine appeared behind Jenny, holding a shuriken to her neck.

"You let me see him, or I'll kill you," Janine demanded.

Other officers pulled out their guns, but Jenny motioned for them not to fire.

"I'll be the only one killed if you shoot," Jenny told them. "I guess in this case, it won't harm anyone if she has a word with Falkner. Please, show this girl to him."

Janine put away her shuriken, while she was led to the questioning room where Falkner was being held. Two police officers opened the door to the room and entered it with her.

"We'll stay here to see if we can get any new information out of him," they said.

Janine glared at both of them, then turned to Falkner. "I've been so worried," she told him. "I'm so happy to see you alive."

She kissed him on the cheek, then suddenly gave him a stern look. "Who did this?" she asked.

"He was a strange man, with blue hair," Falkner replied. "I came into Saffron on the Magnet Train, and he followed me off the train. I tried getting away from him, but he seemed to follow my every footstep. I finally confronted him once I got to the Celadon Department Store."

"That wasn't a very good idea, was it?" Janine remarked.

Falkner ignored her comment. "I asked him what he was following me for," he continued. "He told me that I was one of a certain group of people he had set out to destroy, in an act of revenge for Team Rocket. I asked him how he planned on doing it, when I sent out my Pidgeot, right in the middle of the store. That's when something black came from his hands – and I immediately had Pidgeot fly me out the front door, but even then I still only barely escaped. That's when the whole place just seemed to get swallowed into this giant black hole he had created, from what I could see outside the building. I never saw him leave the building himself… I don't know what happened to him."

"He probably had his own escape route," Janine replied.

"I wish I could have stopped him, but I don't know how to fight against a black hole," Falkner added.

"So why are these police officers keeping you here?" Janine asked.

"They think there's the possibility that I was the one who created the black hole," Falkner answered.

"But if that was the case, couldn't you just destroy them all right now, with another black hole?" Janine questioned, purposely speaking loudly enough for the police officers to hear.

"This place is made of steel, and since Steel-types are resistant against Dark attacks, the same goes for steel buildings, even their insides," Falkner explained. "That department store – it was built on bricks."

Janine walked over to the police officers. "You've got to let him go," she told them. "He's obviously innocent, and besides, he can help me in stopping the real criminal."

"Sorry," one of the officers replied. "Not until we're sure of his innocence."

Janine wanted to kill both of them, but seeing their guns, she just let out a loud sigh. "I'm sorry, Falkner," she said. "I've got to go see what I can do to stop this guy."

"I understand," Falkner replied.

Janine left the police station, walking past the Celadon Department Store, which was getting ready to be torn down. The building was empty inside – completely hollow, yet no sign of the black hole remained. The Celadon construction workers planned on rebuilding it with steel to make it safe from any such attacks again. Meanwhile, she trod on, as she planned on visiting somewhere she had not been in a while – her original home, Fuchsia City.

* * *

><p>Joe knocked on Giselle's door, hoping to see his girlfriend. After knocking for nearly five minutes, he was about to give up, when Giselle suddenly swung the door open.<p>

"Fine, you want to come in my apartment?" she asked. "Here it is!"

Joe's mouth dropped wide open as he looked around. There were small, swirling black holes all around the apartment, none of which had enough power to pull a human in, although certainly enough to pull in any dust that was floating in the air.

"Giselle, you-"

"That's right, I created all of these, with my own two hands," she remarked. "Am I happy about it? No. Did I have control over them? No. But this is the way I am now. You either love me or leave me."

Joe felt offended by Giselle's remark. "Of course I still love you, Giselle," he told her. "We've got to do something to heal you."

"It's too late," Giselle replied. "I apparently have Dark powers, and the only thing I can do is learn to control them."

Joe wanted to bring up the original reason for his coming to see her – to tell her about the Elite's accusation of her being behind the black hole attacks – but he decided not to at the moment. He simply put his arm around her shoulder.

"Giselle, I'm here for you," he told her. "If you need my help, I'm-"

"I don't need your help, I don't need anyone's help!" Giselle snapped. "I'm going to learn how to control this power, you just wait and see! I'm not the Pokémon League Champion for nothing!"

Joe sighed. He then left the room sadly, wondering what had happened to his girlfriend.

* * *

><p>Sabrina, Will, Cynthia and Lucian continued their talk about the black hole attacks. Their main objective now – how to fight back against them.<p>

"Our psychic powers are useless against Dark-type attacks," Sabrina remarked. "And naturally that means our Pokémon are as well."

"That means we must resort to the use of attacks that are strong against Dark-types," Lucian explained. "Bug-type attacks, Fighting-type attacks – that's what we'll need to use."

"If you don't have Pokémon with those attacks, you'll be in danger," Cynthia added. "Make sure you teach your Pokémon attacks of those types, or otherwise you'll have no chance in any battle."

"I still don't know where we're going to find these attackers," Will commented. "If they can attack from far away…"

"Oh, don't worry," Cynthia responded. "You know the way Team Rocket was. Chances are, they'll show up sooner than we want them to…"

* * *

><p>Janine wanted to be the one to kill whoever it was who nearly killed Falkner. It was even worse that Falkner was now one of several people being considered a suspect. But she realized that her foe was one of obvious power, more than she could easily defeat. This is why she returned home to Fuchsia, where there were Poison Pokémon waiting.<p>

Her father had collected many Poison Pokémon over the years, but he saved several of them in the gym, never using them for battle. She found where he kept these Pokémon, and found the one she thought would be best for battling Dark-types – Toxicroak, a part-Fighting-type.

Fighting-type Pokémon were especially strong against Dark-types, but not many understood why. They simply took the local professor's word for it and used the Fighting attacks, and would win easily any time they would face such a Pokémon. However, the reason for their resistance against Dark-types had everything to do with their flat-out brute strength. While a Dark-type's moves always involved drawing something in, such as in a Bite or a Crunch, a Fighting-type could stop itself from being pulled in, and thus resist the attack.

But what did this all have to do with black holes? These black holes were made of some sort of matter, Dark matter. If a black hole was closed up by the one who created it, everything inside it would be converted to Dark matter, never to return again. But Fighting-type attacks could be used to push right through a black hole, including doing things such as keeping the black hole open and pulling something out of it. All these things could come in handy in case of a Dark attack.

These things Koga had taught to Janine even while Dark-type Pokémon were just being discovered. He was very knowledgeable about Pokémon, so much that he aspired to joining the Elite one day, although he never fulfilled his dream thanks to Giovanni's backstabbing of him. That very thought sent a shudder through Janine, but she tried to calm herself with the reminder that she had taken revenge on her father's killer.

_I will find you, whoever you are,_ Janine thought. _And I will do to you what you were unable to do to Falkner._


	4. Survivor

Chapter 4

Survivor

Giselle heard knocking on her door, again. She knew how much Joe loved her, and she really hated ignoring him. In fact, this was one of the few things she felt badly about, having to stay away from Joe, but it was for his own good. After all, he couldn't be around her while she was having a difficult time controlling her own newfound powers.

But after incessant knocking, she finally gave in, opening it up. To her surprise she saw Lance and Agatha standing there.

"Come on, let's go," Lance demanded of the Pokémon League champion, who was wearing a beautiful black dress.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You know what this is about," Agatha replied. "Get going."

"Fine, whatever," Giselle replied, walking out of her room and joining the two of them. She noticed as she walked down the hallways with the two of them, they seemed to be watching her suspiciously.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Oh, don't play innocent," Agatha responded.

"No, I really don't know," Giselle said, with a little smile.

Lance grinned. "Guess what, brat," he told her. "You're getting a one-way ticket out of the Pokémon League."

"And same with your helpless boyfriend," Agatha added. "He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to vote himself out of the Pokémon League."

"I don't understand," Giselle commented.

"Just watch," Agatha replied.

* * *

><p>Will was beginning to get anxious. Sitting around waiting was not what he wanted to do. Yet with Cynthia and Lucian seemingly calling the shots, and Sabrina not speaking up for him, he felt helpless.<p>

_Sabrina, when are we going to do something about these people who attacked Celadon and Sinnoh? _he asked her telepathically. _I don't like just sitting around._

_Neither do I, but I think we should pay attention to what Cynthia and Lucian have to say,_ Sabrina replied.

_Why? How are they any better than us?_ Will asked.

_You know, I can hear every word you say,_ Cynthia chimed in telepathically.

Sabrina giggled while Will's face turned bright red.

"Oh, sure, make fun of me," he said. "Maybe I'll just have James's father repossess your ring."

Sabrina looked down at the large, beautiful, yellow-orange engagement ring Will had gotten for her well before their wedding. She knew how Will was hard at work trying to pay off the extraordinary amount it cost. So she gave him a little kiss on the cheek, knowing it would be enough to cheer him up.

"Everyone just relax," Cynthia told the others. "If we rush headlong into something, that will be exactly what these Dark attackers want."

* * *

><p>Giselle looked over at the others sitting at the table in the Pokémon League headquarters meeting room. The president of the Pokémon League, Charles Goodshow, as well as Lorelei, Lance, Agatha and her boyfriend Joe, the newest member of the Elite Four. She gulped for a moment, but continued to give off her arrogant facade.<p>

"Have you all convened to give me another bonus for my extraordinary battling record?" she asked. "I am perfect in every match for the last… what, two years now?"

"Miss Giselle," Goodshow stated, "we have reason to believe that you, whether under your own knowledge or not, are responsible for the black holes that destroyed the Celadon Department Store and killed many there, as well as the one that killed three Sinnoh Elite members."

Giselle laughed. "You actually think I have the ability to create black holes?" she asked. "Please, tell me another joke."

Joe grabbed Giselle's wrist, then held up her hand for all to see. Out of it came a mysterious black mist.

"Giselle, even I am scared of your powers," Joe told her. "Maybe you didn't realize it when you killed those people, I really hope that's all it was."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Giselle replied. "You think that it was _me_ who created those black holes?"

Everyone else nodded solemnly.

"Well, it wasn't," she said. "And that's that. Meeting over."

"No," an angry Goodshow stated. "We are meeting to discuss whether you shall remain as champion of the Pokémon League. If these four unanimously choose to remove you as champion, under my approval, you will be asked to leave the Pokémon League headquarters premises immediately."

"What is this, Survivor?" Giselle laughed. "Don't worry, then, I've got a strong alliance."

She gave Joe a look, but he refused to acknowledge her.

"If we do choose to eliminate you as champion, you will no longer have your rights which allow you immunity from arrest," Lance told her. "And we have several police officers waiting to question you immediately following this meeting."

"Oh, go ahead, try to arrest me," Giselle replied. "If I really am someone who can control Dark powers, couldn't I just escape those police officers' clutches?"

Agatha shot Giselle an angry look. "If you do, then we will use anything in our power to stop you, including killing you," she stated. "We're hoping that you choose to be questioned, and allow yourself to clear your name, proving that you had no control over your own powers."

"Please, Giselle," Lorelei told her. "I have supported you, and I want you to prove yourself to be innocent. Allow us to give you that opportunity."

"And just in case you do pull anything, we've got everything under control," Lance added.

* * *

><p>"A phone call?" Lucian asked.<p>

"Yes, it's from Lance at the Indigo League headquarters," Cynthia responded. "Hello?"

"Hi, Cynthia?" Lance asked her.

"Yes?" she answered.

"There's a possibility we have the one who caused the death of your three colleagues, and we may need your help in stopping her from causing more deaths," Lance told her.

"But Lance," Cynthia replied, "I'm a psychic. I have no power against Dark attacks. I could easily be killed if there was a battle against someone with that type of power."

"I know you have strong Pokémon that could defeat any Dark attack, especially your Lucario," Lance continued. "I trust that you could help us out, and if you did, there could be a reward."

"I understand," Cynthia responded. "I'll be there shortly."

"Thank you," Lance said.

Cynthia turned off her phone. "I have to go to the Indigo League headquarters," she told Sabrina and Will. "Apparently I have to bail them out."

"Should we come with you?" Will asked, just hoping to go somewhere.

"No," she responded. "I'll take Lucian with me, but this is too dangerous for the two of you. I don't want you to potentially get killed."

Will looked upset, while Sabrina just looked stern.

"Cynthia and I are willing to risk our lives to protect the Indigo League from having the same thing happen that occurred at our Sinnoh League," Lucian added. "We don't want you to get caught up in a potential black hole."

"But-" Will began to say.

"Please, let us take care of everything," Cynthia responded. "I promise, we will not let those Dark attackers escape."

"Go ahead," Sabrina stated. "Will and I will keep close tabs on what is occurring, to make sure that things do not careen out of control."

"Thank you," Cynthia replied. "I know I can count on the both of you."

She and Lucian then teleported away to the Indigo League headquarters.

* * *

><p>The Indigo League headquarters meeting room was silent. Goodshow then pointed to Lance.<p>

"Voting on whether to keep Giselle as champion," he said. "Yes or no?"

"No," Lance responded sternly, before smirking at Giselle, who wrinkled her nose at him.

"Voting on whether to keep Giselle as champion," Goodshow then told Lorelei, pointing at her. "Yes or no?"

"I'm sorry, Giselle," Lorelei said, "but no."

"I always knew I could never count on you," Giselle snapped at Lorelei.

"Voting on whether to keep Giselle as champion," Goodshow told Agatha, pointing at her. "Yes or no?"

"No!" shouted Agatha. "Get her out of here!"

It all came down to Joe, Giselle's boyfriend, the boy whom she loved dearly. Despite all her arrogance, Giselle deeply cared for Joe, and she was always ready to pull all the strings in order to make things better for him.

"Voting on whether to keep Giselle as champion," Goodshow said to Joe, pointing at him. "Yes or no?"

Joe looked nervously at Giselle, who simply smiled at him, figuring he would vote yes. But Joe began looking around at the others in the room, who gave him pleading looks, hoping that he would vote no. He took a deep breath.

"Giselle, I love you," he stated, looking at her with tears in his eyes. "But… no."

Giselle sat there, stunned for a moment, not saying a word. Then all of a sudden, her anger came bursting out.

"You backstabber!" she cried. "I can't believe you! Say it isn't so, Joe!"

Joe sighed. "It is," he said. "I can't allow you to potentially kill anyone else."

"I hereby approve of the unanimous decision to remove Giselle as champion of the Pokémon League," Goodshow declared. "The Pokémon League champion spot is now vacant."

Giselle got up from her seat, shoving the chair to the ground. She turned away from Joe angrily, not even wanting to look at him. She then stomped right out of the room.

"Giselle!" Joe protested.

She slammed the door behind her as she left the room, with police officers waiting for her as she did. Joe began to get up to follow her, but Goodshow motioned for him to sit down.

"Now, I have been informed by Lance that the Elite want to vote on whether to keep you as a member of the Elite Four," Goodshow told Joe.

"What?" Joe screamed, in total shock.

"We can't trust someone who is aligned with the one who may have killed all those people," Lance commented.

"You just cooked your own goose," Agatha added. "By voting to remove your girlfriend, you just got rid of the one person who could save your position."

"No! This isn't fair!" Joe shouted.

"Too late," Lance stated. "Let's get the voting underway, Mr. Goodshow."

"Yes," Goodshow replied, and the Elite began their voting.

* * *

><p>Outside the meeting room, a loud noise, which sounded like rushing wind, began to erupt. From through the door's windows, the Elite could see something black appearing. They just finished voting for Joe's removal from the Elite Four when Giselle shoved the doors open, running back inside the meeting room. Behind her they could see a large black hole.<p>

"You just killed those police officers!" Agatha shouted. "You sucked them right into another one of your black holes!"

"No, I didn't, I promise you!" Giselle protested. "I don't have _that_ kind of power!"

"Boy, I hope she gets here in time…" Lance stated.

The trainers then saw Lucario, punching and kicking at the black hole. Ordinarily such moves, from a helpless human, would have no effect, but due to the fact that they were Fighting attacks from a Pokémon, they were able to strike blows into the black hole, causing parts of it to disappear. Lucario punched and kicked at the black hole, until the entire dark nebula disappeared. Then Cynthia and Lucian stepped into the meeting room, joining Lucario.

"We arrived a little too late," Cynthia told the Elite. "There were several police officers sucked into that hole."

"We saw who created that hole – it was that girl, wearing the black dress!" Lucian shouted.

"No!" Giselle screamed. "Honestly, it wasn't me! I didn't do that, even by accident!"

Everyone in the room stared at her intently, with fierce looks of anger, except for one – Joe, who had been backstabbed by his Elite colleagues.

"I believe you, Giselle," he told her.

"Thank you, Joe," she replied. "Come with me – let's get out of here."

Joe ran to her and grasped her hand, then the two of them ran past Lucian, Cynthia and Lucario, out of the meeting room. They then avoided security guards who tried to grab them, thanks to Giselle's Cubone clubbing them on their heads, before boarding Giselle's Pidgeot and flying away.

"I'm so sorry, Giselle," Joe told her. "I caused all this."

"You were tricked," Giselle replied. "But we'll get our revenge on them, just wait and see."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, needing a new leader, the Elite elected Cynthia as the new champion of the Pokémon League, as well as promoting Lucian to the Elite Four.<p>

"Together, we will stop Giselle, and whatever diabolical plan she's plotting to destroy our world," Cynthia stated. "As the new champion of this league, I promise to actually do something to help our league, not tear it apart through black hole after black hole."

She was applauded by her peers, including Goodshow. The Pokémon League, they all agreed, was now in good hands.


	5. Dark Discovery

Chapter 5

Dark Discovery

Sabrina and Will continued to sit around inside their mansion, not knowing what had gone on with Cynthia and Lucian. Each of them had their own premonition about what had occurred.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Sabrina muttered.

"That's strange, because I get the feeling that all went well for Cynthia and Lucian," Will replied.

At that time, Sabrina received a phone call.

"Great news, Sabrina!" came the voice on the other side of the line. "I was just selected to be the new champion of the Pokémon League!"

"Great news?" Sabrina asked. "What happened to Giselle?"

"That's where I need your help," Cynthia answered. "She is behind the black hole attacks, and she escaped with her boyfriend. But right now she's on the run, and she won't have much time to attack. Why not come over here to the Indigo Plateau and celebrate with us?"

"Thank you for the offer, but I think it's best that we track down Giselle as soon as possible," Sabrina replied.

"I understand," Cynthia said. "Good luck."

As Sabrina hung up, Will gave her a sinister smile. "So, I was right," he taunted.

"So was I," Sabrina responded. "There's something not right going on here."

"What do you mean?" Will asked.

"Giselle, our enemy?" Sabrina questioned.

"I never trusted her," Will replied. "She was always so arrogant, it only figures that she's the one behind all of this."

Sabrina stared at Will coldly. "You seriously believe that Giselle – _Giselle_ – is behind all our problems?" she asked.

"Why not?" Will responded. "It wouldn't surprise me one bit."

Sabrina sighed. "You really do disappoint me, Will," she muttered, reaching for her knee-high boots, which she began to put on.

"Ooh, the boots," Will said. "That means you mean business."

"That's right," Sabrina replied in a monotone voice. "Something is definitely fishy, about Giselle supposedly being the one behind all of this. Doesn't it strike you as odd that Cynthia is suddenly the new champion?"

Will thought about it for a moment. "No," he answered, causing Sabrina to groan.

"She's with us one moment telling us to be patient, then all of a sudden she's got a new position as head of the Pokémon League?" Sabrina reasoned. "Come on, Will, even you can't find something suspicious about that."

"I think you're just jealous," Will replied, getting an angry glare from his wife. "You want that position so badly, don't you?"

"Yes, I do," Sabrina answered him. "But I wouldn't steal it from anyone."

She reached out her right hand and grabbed his.

"Come on, we're going to find Giselle," she told him.

"But if Giselle's got dark powers, we're helpless against her!" Will protested.

"She's not going to hurt us, I promise you," Sabrina replied. "Let's go."

Will focused his mind on hers, and the two suddenly disappeared from the room.

* * *

><p>Cyrus walked into a dark room, where only a large video screen stood. He turned it on, being greeted by the same person as before.<p>

"I've been assessing the situation closely," the person told him. "It is time that you place an attack on Cerulean City."

"Cerulean?" he asked. "Why there?"

"Fear tactics," the person replied. "We need their gym leaders to panic. Once that occurs, we will gain a whole lot more power."

"I understand," he sighed. "You better be glad I'm doing the dirty work for you."

"I'm doing a lot of work myself, mind you!" the person responded. "Now you just go to work."

The screen went black. Cyrus groaned, then left the room, ready to take on his next task.

* * *

><p>Giselle and Joe found themselves on Shamouti Island, a familiar place, because they had stayed there once before. And to their surprise they saw Sabrina and Will appear before them.<p>

"What is this?" Giselle asked. "Am I being followed?"

"Relax," Sabrina replied. "I want to know what happened."

"Oh, it's nothing much," Giselle replied. "I just got kicked out of the Pokémon League."

"And so did I," Joe added. "And it's all my fault."

"What do you mean, all your fault?" Will questioned.

"The Elite voted on whether to kick out Giselle or not, because they think she's the one who caused those black holes," Joe responded. "I thought she did, so I voted yes, but then they voted to kick me out as well."

"Wait a minute, so you even thought she created the black holes?" Will asked.

Giselle held up her hands, and a dark mist began to come out of them.

"I can't control it," she muttered. "I only wish I knew how."

_So she was the one behind those black holes!_ Will told Sabrina telepathically.

_No, she wasn't_, Sabrina replied.

"Giselle, I want you to tell me everything that went on as you were thrown out of the Pokémon League," Sabrina requested. "Then we'll know exactly who did this."

After a long-winded explanation, which included some bragging from Giselle, Sabrina finally had the answer she was looking for, and it was not one she felt good about.

"Will, it's very clear now," she told her husband.

"What's very clear?" a clueless Will asked.

"Cynthia and Lucian – they were lying to us," Sabrina explained. "This was all a plot for Cynthia to take over as Pokémon League champion."

"What?" a flabbergasted Will responded. "That makes no sense at all."

"Think about it," Sabrina said. "Giselle can't control her powers, and even if she could, they're not strong enough to create any of these black holes. Just look at her!"

Will looked over at Giselle, who created a black hole merely by mistake, simply by pressing her hands together. It was extremely small, however, not enough to suck anything in besides dust.

"Then who did those attacks?" Will asked.

"I am pretty sure I know who did the attacks in the Sinnoh League and the most recent one in the Indigo League," Sabrina answered. "And that would be our former ally, Cynthia."

Will gasped. "Cynthia?" he questioned. "But- but- she's a psychic!"

Sabrina sighed. "She may be what I've always feared," she responded. "Someone with the dual powers, Psychic and Dark. If that is the case, she may be nearly unstoppable, at least for us psychics."

She then paused, looking over at Giselle, who was doing all she could to try to shake the dark mist from her hands.

"But someone with dark powers," Sabrina suggested, "could be the only person who could defeat her."

"How can Giselle possibly learn to use these powers?" Joe asked Sabrina and Will. "None of us know much about dark attacks."

"My friend Karen knew all about them," Will remarked. "She was one of the strongest people when it came to dark powers I ever knew."

"But she turned to Team Rocket, and both she and Bruno were arrested," Joe replied.

"I can pull some strings," Sabrina replied. "If Karen promises to help Giselle learn how to control her dark attacks, perhaps she could be rewarded."

"I don't understand," Will said.

"We're going to bail her out of jail, that's what," Sabrina replied. "Right now we've got to do whatever it takes to find someone who could possibly defeat Cynthia."

_I still don't know if you're right about this,_ Will telepathically told Sabrina. _If you're wrong, we could be in a boatload of trouble._

_I'm not,_ Sabrina replied. _Trust me._

* * *

><p>Sabrina and Will teleported to the Olivine City police station, where many of the Team Rocket members were being held. She immediately had a talk with the new Officer Jenny, who took over for the one who had been killed.<p>

"I would like a word with Karen," she told Jenny.

"I'm sorry, but we don't just allow visitors to talk to prisoners at any time," Jenny replied.

"Karen's no ordinary prisoner," Sabrina clarified. "She's a woman who has very strong powers, powers that we need."

"I don't care if you're a gym leader or not, you're not just walking in here and talking to our prisoners!" Jenny yelled.

_So, she wants me to take things into my own hands,_ Sabrina thought. _Fine, then, if it's for the good of our land, then perhaps I will have to go above the law on this one._

She teleported inside Karen's jail cell with ease, while Will was left with Jenny to explain Sabrina's absence.

"Where did your girlfriend go?" Jenny asked.

"She's my wife," Will replied.

"I don't care!" Jenny shouted. "Where is she?"

"You expect me to know everywhere Sabrina teleports?" Will responded. "I could make a bet, though…"

Sabrina began to talk to a very surprised Karen in her jail cell.

"I need your help, and I'll get you out of here if you only promise to help," Sabrina asked.

"Why should I?" Karen snapped. "Maybe I just want to stay here in jail."

Sabrina looked confused for a moment, then noticed Karen was wearing a dress, not prison clothing.

"Look, everything's great here in 'prison,'" Karen explained. "I get to see Bruno all the time, we get fed well, we don't have to work. Sure, I'd rather be out of here, but currently I'm working with the police on a way to resurrect Team Rocket."

Sabrina gasped. "Are you serious?" she asked.

"That's right, and there's nothing you can do about it," Karen replied.

As Sabrina tried to think about what to say next, a dark mist came out of Karen's hands.

"Are you familiar with Cynthia?" Karen asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid I am," Sabrina replied.

"She taught me everything I know," Karen responded.

A large ball of dark energy came out of Karen's hands, flying towards Sabrina. Sabrina tried teleporting away, but she found the room surrounded by dark mist, which cancelled out her psychic powers. She managed to barely duck out of the way.

"I thought you and Will were friends!" Sabrina shouted.

"What does Will have to do with this?" Karen questioned.

"He's my husband!" Sabrina screamed.

"Oh, so that's it," Karen replied. "Well, here's a fact that you may want to know… he was my first love."

"What does that matter now?" Sabrina snapped.

Out of Karen's hands came another ball of dark energy.

"Maybe… because he's mine now!" she screamed.

The ball of dark energy engulfed Sabrina, and she found herself trapped inside. Karen then laughed, as she opened the door to her jail "cell."

"Team Rocket's headquarters were here before, and they're here again," she laughed. "This is the beginning of the new Team Rocket. Giovanni, I hope this serves as a good tribute to you – I've trapped your worst enemy."

Will was becoming increasingly nervous by Sabrina's disappearance. He also wondered why Jenny wasn't running after her.

"Aren't you going to chase Sabrina?" Will asked.

"No use in chasing after someone who can teleport," Jenny replied. "Besides, I figure that even if she goes after Karen, she can't do that much."

"What do you mean?" Will asked. "Karen's my friend, surely she wouldn't do anything to Sabrina."

"Want to make a bet?" Jenny responded.

Karen then walked out into the front of the police station, seeing Will standing near Jenny.

"Will!" she exclaimed, running towards him.

Will sidestepped Karen, who ran right past him. "What have you done with Sabrina?" he asked, immediately knowing something was up.

"Relax," Karen replied. "You don't ever need to worry about her again."

Will then teleported away, ending up right in front of Karen's former cell. He could see inside it, and it was plain and obvious to see that there was a giant black ball floating around in the room. He tried pushing his way through, but he was stopped by the dark mist, which repelled him, since he was a psychic.

"Sabrina!" he screamed. "Where are you?"

Sabrina could not hear anything from inside the ball, however. She floated there, thinking of a way to escape.

_If Will's smart, he'll get Karen away from here, because the farther she is from the ball of energy, the less she can control it,_ she thought. _Then I can break through._

But Will was not thinking that way. He kept on pushing and pushing, trying to make his way inside the cell, but he could not. That was when Karen rushed up to him, glomping him from behind.

"Will, it's so good to see you again!" she exclaimed.

"Get away from me, Karen!" Will screamed. "You tell me what you did with Sabrina before I have to fight you!"

Karen began to chuckle, then she began to laugh hysterically. "Are you serious, Will?" she asked. "Your girlfriend was helpless against me. You aren't any stronger than her, are you?"

Will looked at Karen in fear. He saw her begin to build up some dark energy with her fingers.

"I'm going to trap you the same way I trapped her," she told him. "And then Team Rocket will reign over this land again."

* * *

><p>Giselle and Joe were now just sitting around, waiting for Sabrina and Will's return. They enjoyed the nice weather here on Shamouti Island, but both were rather anxious. As they stood around, they were noticed by a few of the natives, who roped them into one of their rituals.<p>

"Eh eh oh ee oh ee oh ee ah ah," they started chanting, while Giselle and Joe stood around watching them chant. They then noticed a couple of familiar faces: Melody and Gary.

"You're back here, again?" Melody asked. "You must be gluttons for punishment."

"Why are you here?" Giselle asked.

She pointed angrily at Gary.

"Hey, I like it here!" he protested.

"We're here because we're escaping from some crazy people in the Pokémon League," Giselle explained. "And, because of this."

She showed her hands to Melody, who immediately noticed the dark mist coming from them.

"What _is_ that?" Melody asked.

"I wish I understood," Giselle sighed. "All I know is that I've got to get back to being champion of the Pokémon League."

"Well, I'd do anything to get out of here," Melody suggested. "Gary and I would be happy to help you guys out, right, Gary?"

Gary sighed. "Oh, I guess so, if you want me to," he groaned.

"We'll take Lugia and show those Pokémon League people something they've never seen before," Melody said.

"But isn't Lugia psychic, and weak against Dark-types?" Joe asked.

"You don't know Lugia's power, do you?" Melody replied. "Just wait and see."


	6. A Little Reprieve

Chapter 6

A Little Reprieve

Will felt himself being surrounded by dark energy. He helplessly just stood there, not knowing what to do, as his teleporting powers would not work. Karen began to cackle.

"Too late, Will!" she laughed. "You chose Sabrina, now you can be with her!"

But as she was just about to surround Will in the ball of dark energy, she found herself attacked in the back by a surprising Pokémon: Medicham. When that occurred, she lost all control of her dark powers.

"Whose is this?" she asked.

"Hello!" a cute little voice shouted.

It was Liza, who had teleported all the way from Hoenn. She recognized that Sabrina and Will were in trouble through her feelings, and she was able to use these feelings to find them and teleport to where they were. As Karen lost control of her powers, both Sabrina and Will escaped from the dark energy.

"So, Karen can help us out?" Sabrina asked Will angrily.

"Hey, hey, let's just be thankful for Liza," Will replied.

Sabrina gave Liza a warm smile. "Thank you," she said. "Now let's go."

Instantly the three psychics, as well as Medicham, teleported away from the Olivine prison, while Karen sat there in shock.

"Some stupid little girl just ruined everything," she moaned. "I was so close to having big-time revenge for Team Rocket, and she just shows up and ruins it all."

She stomped over to Bruno's "cell," opening it up.

"You ready to get our plans underway?" she asked him.

"Absolutely," Bruno replied.

"Then let's get this party started," Karen remarked.

* * *

><p>Sabrina, Will and Liza sat in the dining room of Sabrina and Will's mansion, with the wife of the house giving a death glare to her husband.<p>

"I'm sorry, okay?" Will said.

Sabrina refused to respond. The meddling Liza decided to relay Sabrina's thoughts to Will, as Sabrina blocked Will from reading them.

"She thinks that there couldn't possibly be a stupider psychic in the history of psychics," Liza told Will. "And she also wonders exactly how you would have paid for her ring if the two of you were trapped in those dark energy balls."

"Look, I'm sorry, Sabrina!" Will protested.

Sabrina still just stared at him.

"She thinks that you picked a very poor woman for your first 'love,'" Liza added.

"We were just boyfriend and girlfriend, nothing special, okay?" Will said.

Sabrina continued to glare at him.

"She thinks-" Liza began to say.

"That's enough mind-reading," Sabrina said. "All I can say is that if Liza hadn't bailed us out, you'd be in a lot of trouble right now."

"So would you!" Will protested.

"Don't make me angrier," Sabrina responded.

"So, what are we going to do?" Liza asked. "Apparently Will's old girlfriend is a member of a new Team Rocket."

"Please don't call her that," Will requested.

"Karen revealed to me that-" Sabrina started to say.

"I know, I know!" Will shouted.

"I was just going to say that she revealed to me that she learned everything she knows about dark powers… from Cynthia," Sabrina explained.

"So you were right," Will sighed.

"As always," Sabrina responded. "But I'm not too happy about it. If Cynthia's our opponent, we have a long, very uphill battle to face."

"But wasn't Cynthia your friend?" Liza asked.

"She was, and I guess she still is," Sabrina replied. "But I can't be friends with someone who's ready to suck people into a black hole, can I?"

* * *

><p>Giselle, Joe, Melody and Gary held onto the back of Lugia as they flew towards Indigo Plateau. It was a very foolhardy plan Melody had come up with; simply crash the headquarters and take out all of Giselle's foes with one huge attack. She figured that would be enough to satisfy Giselle, then she could convince Gary to stay somewhere other than Shamouti Island, <em>anywhere<em> but Shamouti Island.

* * *

><p>Inside the Pokémon League headquarters, however, their plan was already well-known.<p>

"Giselle is on her way back, ready to attack us," Cynthia told the Elite.

"What should we do?" Lance asked.

"Nothing," Cynthia responded. "I've got it all under control."

* * *

><p>Lugia continued flying towards the headquarters building, and that was when Melody began playing her flute in a harsh tone. Immediately Lugia began to blast its Psychic attack towards the headquarters building.<p>

"That ought to take it out," Gary commented.

But nothing happened. It was as if Lugia never even attacked the building. Melody played her flute louder, and Lugia attacked harder, yet nothing happened.

"What's happening?" Melody exclaimed, stopping her flute-playing. "Why isn't that place destroyed?"

"You do realize that Dark-types are immune against Psychic attacks, don't you?" Giselle lectured.

"What does that matter?" Melody asked. "Lugia's stronger than any of those limitations!"

"Not if we're up against a powerful foe," Giselle replied. "Look around that building!"

Melody noticed a dark mist surrounding the building. She could not be certain, but she assumed that it must be some sort of dark barrier.

"How strong could that possibly be?" Melody asked. "Surely they couldn't hold that in forever?"

Suddenly, to the four trainers' horror, they noticed a black hole forming in front of the headquarters. They began to feel Lugia being sucked in towards it.

"Get out of here, Lugia!" Melody screamed, beginning to play her flute frantically.

However, as fast as Lugia flapped its wings, it could not do anything to escape the black hole. Slowly, but surely, the four trainers felt themselves being pulled in, on the back of the giant bird.

"Is there anything you can do?" Joe asked Giselle.

Giselle thought about it for a moment, then took her own two hands and held them out towards the black hole. Her own dark powers were able to deflect the power of the black hole, and she was able to cause the black hole to completely stop pulling them at all.

"Now, escape!" she cried.

Lugia now was able to break away, and the psychic bird flew off into the distance, carrying the four trainers, three of which were incredibly frightened over what had just occurred.

* * *

><p>Outside the Cerulean gym, Cyrus watched many people walk into the building, preparing for a water show. He counted them, one by one, as he looked to gain a count on how many people he was about to kill, all for Cynthia's dark cause.<p>

2,125… 2,126… 2,127… 2,128. The last of the spectators walked into the building, then Cyrus walked in as well. He was prepared to destroy everyone, before making another great escape.

He wondered exactly how much Team Galactic's ultimate goal was helped by doing what Cynthia wanted, but he figured it had to help in some way. At least he would be off the hook, if only for the moment.

As the water show began, he stood near the top of the stands, above most other people in the arena. He then took both of his hands and held them out, palms forward. A dark mist began to appear, and it started to grow.

Some of the people high up in the stands began to shriek as they saw it appear, but Cyrus knew that their screams would only be in vain. There would be no escaping once his black hole was in full force.

"Uh, like, excuse me?" a voice came from nearby. "Like, uh, what are you doing?"

It was Violet, who was also sitting high in the stands. Apparently she planned on joining the show from her surprise position among the spectators, but she immediately noticed the screaming, and then with it Cyrus's attack. Cyrus gave her no response.

"Richie, like, take care of this guy," Violet told the boy sitting next to her.

Immediately Richie threw out a Poké Ball. Out of it came a Hitmonlee, which kicked Cyrus right in the hands. The Fighting-type attack ended his Dark attack right away, and all the dark mist disappeared.

"Security, like, get over here now!" Violet screamed, and several security guards ran over and grabbed Cyrus. Cyrus tried creating a black hole in desperation, but Hitmonlee's kick had temporarily removed his powers from him. The guards then dragged him away, while Violet gave Richie a kiss on the cheek.

_How is this helping Team Galactic, really?_ Cyrus thought to himself, as he helplessly was carried off to the Cerulean police station.

* * *

><p>Within hours, Cyrus had gone from an unknown to the prime suspect of creating the black holes. He was placed in a jail cell with Fighting-type Pokémon holding onto his hands and feet to prevent him from doing anything.<p>

"Announce this on the television networks immediately," the non-corrupt Officer Jenny of Cerulean City told several reporters. "Cyrus, a mysterious man from Sinnoh, is the one behind all the black hole attacks."

This broadcast went out over all the Pokémon world, including Indigo Plateau. Lorelei watched it from her apartment, then immediately called over her husband Lance.

"Yeah, I see it," he mumbled. "It looks like we were duped."

"Why do I get the feeling Cynthia has something to do with the incorrect blaming of Giselle, given her quick ascension to league champion?" Lorelei asked him.

"You're probably right," Lance replied.

"As always," Lorelei said with a smile, mirroring another beautiful woman's response to her husband.

"I wish my hatred of Giselle hadn't blinded me from seeing through this plan," Lance remarked.

"All we have to do is convince Giselle to come back here, and we can overturn that earlier decision," Lorelei commented. "I'd rather have an annoying girl than a potential friend of the one who caused all these attacks."

"But what about the attack inside our very headquarters when Giselle left?" Lance questioned.

Lorelei sighed. "I have a feeling that Cyrus isn't the only one who's been causing these attacks," she said. "And I think that perhaps the other one is in our very midst, posing as champion of this league."

"We must remove Cynthia as champion immediately," Lance remarked.

"Easier said than done," Lorelei replied.

* * *

><p>Sabrina, Will and Liza also saw the reports on the television, where Cyrus was being blamed for the black hole attacks.<p>

"Why do I get the feeling that Cyrus is just a pawn in Cynthia's plan?" Sabrina asked.

"Probably because… you're right, again?" Will asked.

"Oh, come on, Will, I expect you to resist Sabrina's ideas a little more than that," Liza teased.

"Whatever the reason, I think we have to confront Cynthia, ourselves," Sabrina suggested.

"When?" Will asked.

"Tomorrow," Sabrina replied. "Either we win, and end this black hole madness, or she wins – and goes on to do whatever she wants in the Pokémon world."

Will gulped. "So, not that important of a battle?" he joked.

Liza grinned. "Come on, Will, you scared?" she asked.

"Yes, yes I am!" he exclaimed.

"So am I," Sabrina added. "And when that's the case, there's reason to worry."


	7. She Loves Power

Chapter 7

She Loves Power

Cynthia and Lucian sat together in Cynthia's new apartment, where they enjoyed a nice, long kiss. Once Lucian broke away, he had a question for her: "Why?"

"Because I love power," the smiling Cynthia responded.

"Wasn't being Sinnoh champion enough for you?" Lucian asked.

"Sinnoh has always been disrespected and disregarded by the rest of the Pokémon League," Cynthia replied. "Now, as champion of the whole Pokémon League, I am in the position I rightfully deserve."

"Aren't you afraid someone can stop you?" Lucian questioned.

"There is not one person in the entire Pokémon world as strong as me, nor even a Pokémon that can match my power," Cynthia answered. "I have the duel powers of dark and psychic, and they have been becoming exponentially stronger. Now, I am utterly unstoppable!"

Lucian gulped. "Cynthia, you aren't the same woman I knew when I first fell in love with you," he remarked.

Then he smiled evilly. "You're so, so much better," he added, kissing her again.

"And the most beautiful part of my plan," she continued, "is that the stupid Cyrus will take the fall for me, as he fruitlessly tries to resurrect Team Galactic. No one knows my power, and those who will know it will wish they never knew it."

As she was speaking, she heard her cell phone ring. She picked it up.

"Sabrina!" she cried. "How good to hear from you!"

"Cynthia," Sabrina responded. "I would like to have a talk with you."

"Oh, just come right here to the Pokémon League headquarters at Indigo Plateau," Cynthia said. "I would love to have tea with you."

"Thank you," Sabrina replied, before hanging up.

Lucian looked closely at Cynthia, who kept an innocent smile.

"You look so innocent, which means you're planning something of the worst nature," he commented.

"Sabrina's one of the few who could figure me out," she responded. "But I'll squash that fast."

* * *

><p>Sabrina, Will and Liza all teleported to Indigo Plateau together, but only Sabrina planned to go inside the headquarters.<p>

"You two have to stay out here and be ready for any type of emergency," she told them.

"How will we know if there's an emergency?" Will asked her.

"You'll be able to feel it," she replied.

She then stood very close to him, with her eyes right in his.

"This could be very dangerous," she said. "It's very possible… I could have something very bad happen to me."

"Sabrina, don't say that," Will responded.

"I'm serious," Sabrina continued. "Now listen to me… if anything happens to me you've got to take over the gym in my absence."

"That's crazy talk," Will replied. "I'm not even thinking about it."

Sabrina then kissed him on the lips.

"Just in case," she said. "Now here I go."

She teleported inside the headquarters building, leaving Will standing outside with Liza.

"Why is she talking like that?" Will asked Liza.

"I think she's just trying to scare you, that's all," Liza replied. "Since when has Sabrina ever met an opponent that's too strong for her? She managed to help us survive a whole mountain collapsing on us. Surely this won't be much of a problem for her."

"I hope you're right," Will replied.

* * *

><p>Sabrina, Cynthia and Lucian sat at a table, having tea with each other. Cynthia began to explain how it was Cyrus who had been working with Giselle to cause all the black holes, but Sabrina did not believe it for a moment.<p>

"My apologies, Cynthia, but how come Giselle's powers are so weak, if she supposedly has that much power?" Sabrina asked. "I saw Giselle's powers, she can't create a black hole larger than a baseball. She surely couldn't have been the one to create those black holes."

"Perhaps she fooled you," Cynthia answered.

"I doubt I was fooled," Sabrina responded. "I just was wondering your opinion on this."

Cynthia smiled warmly at Lucian, causing chills to go down his spine. He knew that Cynthia's expressions were always the opposite of her moods; if she became angry with someone, she would give the most innocent smile.

"Perhaps…" Cynthia said, "you suspect me?"

Sabrina looked a bit worried. She had been blocking Cynthia from reading her thoughts; had Cynthia somehow read right through her?

"Actually, yes," Sabrina remarked. "I suspect that you have the duel powers of dark and psychic, and that you are behind all the black holes."

Cynthia gave a warm laugh, then smiled innocently at Sabrina. "Why yes, Sabrina, it is me," she told her. "What are you going to do about it?"

Sabrina immediately reached for a Poké Ball, but she felt herself being pulled by something. She suddenly found herself floating in the air, her arms and legs unable to move. Then a black hole began to slowly appear, growing larger and larger.

"You may be one of the few who could stop me, but I'm not letting you," Cynthia told Sabrina.

The black hole began to suck Sabrina in, and she tried everything in her power to stop it. However, she found herself helpless, unable to teleport, unable even to move, as she began to be pulled towards the black hole.

Suddenly, though, she had help.

"Who are these?" Lucian asked, seeing Will and Liza teleport inside.

"Sabrina's friends," Cynthia replied. "They won't be much trouble either."

However, as Cynthia went to create a bigger black hole, Liza grabbed Sabrina's hand, then combined all of her teleportation powers to allow Sabrina to escape. The three psychics all teleported away, and Cynthia immediately disintegrated her black hole.

"How did they escape?" Lucian exclaimed. "I thought they couldn't do anything about your powers!"

"They couldn't," Cynthia responded. "I allowed them to escape, because I still have hope for Sabrina, that she will turn to become my accomplice. She knows exactly how powerful I am now. She will not have any choice but to join me."

She began to cackle, while Lucian smiled as well. He felt good, being in a relationship with the new champion of the Pokémon League, and a woman with seemingly unstoppable power.

* * *

><p>Sabrina sat with Will and Liza in her dining room, looking very nervous. Will had no understanding of why she looked this way, and Liza was especially cheerful.<p>

"I saved you, Sabrina!" Liza exclaimed. "Aren't I special?"

Sabrina sighed. "Liza, she let us go," she explained.

"What?" Liza asked. "I'm sure that wouldn't be the case."

"You remember how she ended up helping you out, don't you?" Sabrina questioned.

Liza thought back, to a couple years ago, when Cynthia used her own psychic powers to free Liza from a doll's spell. She remembered how Cynthia and Sabrina seemed to be friends.

"Maybe…" Liza said.

"She values our friendship, which is why she allowed me to escape," Sabrina continued. "She did that to warn me how powerful she is."

Will looked at Sabrina with confusion. "I think you're overanalyzing this," he replied. "There's no way she let you escape. More likely she wasn't powerful enough."

"Trust me, Will, she _is_ powerful enough," Sabrina said. "I don't want to get any of us hurt, so we can't go back there until I've figured out some way to defeat her."

"If you can't beat her, join her!" Liza joked.

"That's what she wants," Sabrina replied. "She wants me to join her, the same way Giovanni did. And I'm not budging."

Will groaned. "You just think everyone's out to use you for your powers, don't you?" he asked his wife.

"Yes, I do," she responded. "But at least that way I don't get myself fooled by anyone."

* * *

><p>Giselle, Joe, Melody and Gary arrived at the Viridian City gym, having escaped from Indigo Plateau. Melody, in particular, was furious.<p>

"I can't believe Lugia couldn't make it through there!" she cried. "Lugia should be all-powerful!"

"You don't know anything about Pokémon!" Giselle snapped. "Lugia's a Psychic-type, utterly weak against Dark-types and Dark powers! Even the most powerful Psychic Pokémon is hopeless against a powerful Dark barrier!"

"What can we do, then?" Gary asked. "Use Fighting Pokémon? Somehow I can't just see us walking in there with a Hitmonchan and a Hitmonlee and punching and kicking our way through."

"Why not?" Joe questioned.

"Joe, don't you realize that Cynthia is a psychic?" Giselle asked. "She definitely let me know that at our Pokémon League tournament battle."

"Exactly," Gary said. "She would have no trouble disposing of any Fighting Pokémon that attacked her."

"But what can stop her, then?" Joe inquired. "If Psychics can't, and Fighting-types can't, what can?"

"You have to beat her at her own game, silly," Giselle replied. "Only Dark powers are going to take her down."

She stared down at her own two hands. "I've got to figure out exactly how to use these powers, or else the Pokémon League will be out of my hands," she commented.

* * *

><p>It was a pretty bizarre scene in Sabrina's house: Sabrina staring blankly into the distance, without an emotion on her face; Liza chattering non-stop into Will's ear; and Will looking like he would rather be anywhere but here at the moment.<p>

"You know, I'm starting to become powerful, I'll soon be more powerful than Sabrina," Liza said. "This Cynthia thinks she's something, let me at her! I'll show her who's boss around here. There's no way I'm letting her get away with this!"

Will completely ignored Liza. "Come on, Sabrina, say something," he muttered. "I hate it when you're silent like this."

Sabrina kept up her blank stare, while Liza continued her non-stop talking. That was when Will decided to walk out of the room and turn on the television.

"If they're going to act stupid, then I might as well at least enjoy myself," he said. "Time to check the sports scores."

But he had no time to do so, since a report came onto the news.

"We have an important announcement, straight from the Pokémon League," the television broadcaster said. "The Pokémon League has determined that Giselle was behind the black hole attacks at Indigo Plateau and at the Sinnoh League. Anyone who sees her should immediately give her whereabouts to the police."

"Hey, listen to this!" Will shouted to the other two girls.

"I know," Sabrina replied in a monotone voice.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Will asked.

"I don't know," Sabrina responded, in the same voice.

"Come on, show a little emotion," Will said.

Sabrina walked into the living room, where Will was sitting, then sat right next to him, with the same blank expression on her face. He tried reading her mind, but she blocked him.

"Oh, what is it now?" he asked. "Why do this to me?"

"I don't like feeling powerless," Sabrina replied. "I hate this feeling, the thought that I can't do anything."

"But you _can_!" Will protested. "I know you can!"

"No, I can't," Sabrina responded. "Cynthia is that powerful."

"Okay, let's assume you can't for a moment," Will remarked. "Then who can do something?"

"She has the duel powers of dark and psychic," Sabrina commented. "The only one who could do anything would be one with dark powers."

"Karen!" Will exclaimed.

The very mention of the name was enough to snap Sabrina out of her emotionless spell.

"What's the meaning of saying that name?" she snapped. "You still like her?"

"No, no, I just think she can still help us!" Will protested.

"How? By rebuilding Team Rocket?" Sabrina asked angrily.

Will thought about it for a moment. "Exactly!" he cried. "Come on, we've got to go see her!"

"Wait a minute, I make the decisions around here, right?" Sabrina asked.

"Most of the time, yes," Will answered. "But not this time! Come on, I've got an idea that could actually work! I promise you!"

"Liza, you'd better come," Sabrina said. "Just in case Will gets us trapped in balls of dark energy again."

"Sure thing, Sabrina!" Liza exclaimed. "And don't worry, I'll rescue you, you know I'm almost as powerful as you!"

"Don't become power-hungry, Liza," Sabrina commanded.

"Why not, Sabrina?" Liza questioned. "I just want to be like you."

"You don't want to be like me," Sabrina replied.

She then grabbed Will's hand. "Come on," she said. "Let's go."

The three then teleported away, off to the Olivine police station, ready to meet Karen once more.


	8. Queen Cynthia

Chapter 8

Queen Cynthia

Silver and Jasmine sat in the living room of their house in Olivine City, enjoying a peaceful afternoon. Life had changed much for the two of them in recent months; since their marriage they had been living very quiet lives, not involved in any of the ongoing madness in the Pokémon world. It was a stark contrast to what things were like before their marriage, when there was not a dull moment for them, back when Silver's father Giovanni was still alive and Janine was still a sworn enemy of theirs.

Nevertheless, they could not help but feel concerned about the strange turn of events that had occurred in recent days. Cynthia had come out of nowhere to take the Pokémon League Champion position, only days after the reports of strange black holes appearing. Silver immediately suspected that there was something not right about Cynthia, but he felt like he could not do anything. Not only that, it was more that he did not _want_ to do anything; taking care of Jasmine's new Pokémon breeding business was more enjoyable to him.

As he watched the current report on the news, however, he could not help but feel a little shocked.

"This is a breaking news alert," the television broadcaster said. "Pokémon League Champion Cynthia has named herself as queen of the Pokémon world."

Cynthia then came on-screen, addressing the viewers.

"Hello, you may know me as the new champion of the Pokémon League, Cynthia," she announced. "But as of now I have a new title: queen."

Lucian then walked into the room, placing a crown upon Cynthia's head.

"In a time in which there is much fear in this world, I feel it is necessary to have a true leader with absolute power in order to set things right," Cynthia continued. "As queen of the Pokémon world I will make sure that those who do evil are rightfully punished. My first order is to call for the immediate arrest of former champion Giselle, who is one of the people behind the black hole attacks of recent days. Her accomplice Cyrus has already been captured, and now I call upon the people of this land to do everything they can to bring her to justice. If you see her, please turn her into the police, but be warned that she is extremely dangerous."

She then smiled warmly at the camera.

"This is Queen Cynthia, wishing each and every one of you happiness and peace," she added. "Good-bye."

Silver immediately shut off the television. "Did you just see the same thing I saw?" he asked Jasmine.

"That woman just made herself queen," Jasmine replied.

"How is that possible? How does someone just go and make themselves a queen? That doesn't seem right," Silver said.

"She seems like a pretty nice person," Jasmine commented.

"But why would she claim absolute power? We've never had royalty in the Pokémon world," Silver responded. "I thought we would never need it."

"Maybe the time is right," Jasmine remarked.

"It's never right," Silver mumbled. "If anyone should be royalty, it should be you."

Jasmine smiled, yet said nothing.

"I'm serious, Jasmine," Silver added.

"Oh, Silver, I know you love me, but…" Jasmine replied.

She then kissed him on the cheek. "I'm happy the way I am."

* * *

><p>Giselle also saw the report from the Viridian City gym, and she was fuming mad.<p>

"If anyone should be queen, it should be me!" she exclaimed. "Isn't that right, Joe?"

"Uh, yeah," Joe responded, not knowing what else to say.

"Ridiculous!" Melody yelled. "There should never be a queen! This land doesn't need more narcissism than it has already!"

She then gave Giselle an angry stare, who simply put her nose up in return.

"Well, that tells us all we need to know about Cynthia, or should I say, Queen Cynthia," Gary added. "She's after power, and that's it."

"Never call her that in my presence!" Giselle screamed.

"Who am I supposed to listen to?" Gary asked. "You… or the queen?"

Joe laughed, causing Giselle to walk away in a huff.

_"I'll gain back my position, and just for the sake of fairness, I'll become the new queen of this land!" _Giselle thought. _"I can't stand seeing another woman wearing a crown, when I know it should be me."_

* * *

><p>Sabrina, Will and Liza did <em>not<em> see the report, however, as they were trying to visit Karen at the Olivine City police station. They were being kept out by the local Officer Jenny, who refused to let them past.

"Look, we need to see her, again," Will told Jenny.

"I heard from Karen, and she told me that you tried attacking her!" Jenny snapped. "We can't have visitors attacking the prisoners!"

"Oh, would you stop your façade?" Sabrina asked. "We all know she's not any sort of a prisoner. She's plotting to bring back Team Rocket!"

"So she told you?" Jenny replied.

"Yes, and we intend to join her!" Will yelled.

Jenny paused for a moment, looking at Will closely. "All right, if that's indeed what you want to do, I'm not going to stop you," she said. "But be warned: we will not hesitate to arrest you if you attack her again."

Sabrina wanted to bring up the fact that they did not ever attack Karen, but she instead remained silent, walking with Will and Liza to Karen's "cell," being led by Jenny. Jenny opened the door slightly, telling Karen that she had visitors.

"Who are they?" Karen asked.

"Three people who want to join you," Jenny answered.

She then opened the door the whole way to reveal Sabrina, Will and Liza.

"Perfect," Karen replied. "You may go, Jenny."

As Jenny walked away, Will began his plot. "We want to join Team Rocket," he told her.

"Is that so?" Karen questioned. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because we know that Cynthia is totally against Team Rocket," Will answered. "We went to confront her, and it turned out that she hates both us, and you. You don't know that, do you?"

"Cynthia was my mentor," Karen replied. "She never had any intention of resurrecting Team Rocket, she was only interested in personal glory. I assume she's achieved it."

"She's our sworn enemy," Will added.

"Well, I don't believe you for a moment, but I'd be glad to let you join me," she said. "Here are three Team Rocket uniforms. Go put them on, and then maybe you'll get some information out of me."

Sabrina gulped as she looked down at the "R" on the shirt Karen handed her. _What the heck is Will thinking?_ she thought. _Doesn't he know how much this hurts me?_

About ten minutes later, the three had changed into their new uniforms. Sabrina resembled Jessie with her big black boots and Rocket uniform, and she did not like it for a moment. She wanted to hide her face, being totally ashamed to wear the scarlet letter "R," but here she was, apparently a member of Team Rocket, all because of some crazy plan by her husband.

"Okay, so you're serious about this?" Karen asked, seeing them in their uniforms. "Fine, then, let's call in Bruno."

A couple minutes afterward, once Bruno was in the room, Karen began talking to the three psychics.

"So you're saying that Cynthia intends on exterminating Team Rocket, and she knows about us already?" Karen asked. "How do I know that you didn't just go and tell on me?"

"She's psychic," Will replied. "She knew you were a Rocket the whole time, and now that she's in charge of the Pokémon League, she fears an organization like yours rising up and attacking her league."

"I see," Karen remarked. "So what do you think we should do about her?"

"You have dark powers, powers that can defeat her," Will responded. "You're maybe the only one who could possibly stand a chance against her."

"Why would you think I could defeat her?" Karen asked him. "She taught me everything I know, surely she has more power than me."

"But she's part psychic," Will replied. "I'm certain that your dark power has an advantage over that part of her. She would be utterly hopeless if her dark powers were neutralized by yours, then if we all used our Pokémon to take her down. Plus, Bruno's got Fighting-types, those are great against Dark-types, remember?"

"And what's in it for Team Rocket?" Karen questioned. "Taking out one person seems more like a job for the mafia."

"We wouldn't just be taking down an enemy of Team Rocket, we'd be taking down the Pokémon League Champion," Will responded. "Just imagine what chaos would occur. We'd have Team Rocket's name known all over the Pokémon world!"

"I guess so," Karen replied.

"Yeah, he does have a point," Bruno added.

"All right, just letting you know, if for one moment you choose to turn on me, I'll have all three of you captured in dark energy balls within an instant," Karen warned. "I have the upper hand here, so you'd better not cross me!"

"We understand," Will responded.

"Fine, let's go," Karen said.

"Now?" Bruno asked.

"Of course!" Karen exclaimed. "The best time to attack is when our opponent isn't expecting it, and that time is now! Come on, let's go!"

She rushed out of the "cell" with Bruno, and the three psychics tagging close behind.

"Oh, right, you three are psychics, so special, aren't you?" Karen said condescendingly. "You go off and do your whole teleportation thing, we'll join you at Indigo Plateau shortly."

"Right," Will replied.

Will then grabbed a reluctant Sabrina's hand, then the three teleported to Indigo Plateau.

* * *

><p>The three psychics appeared outside the Indigo Plateau headquarters, where Sabrina wasted no time in accosting her husband.<p>

_What the HECK have you gotten me into, you fool!_ she screamed at him telepathically.

_Relax, everything is under control, Sabrina,_ Will replied.

_No, it's not!_ Sabrina cried. _You've got me working for the very organization I worked hard to destroy! How is this going to help us any? You really think Karen can take down Cynthia?_

_ Yes, I do,_ Will said. _I really think that if we work hard together, we can take out Cynthia right now, and once we've got her locked away, we won't ever have to worry about the black hole attacks again._

_Except for the fact that then we'll have to break it to Karen that we aren't members of Team Rocket, in which case we're completely at her mercy,_ Sabrina responded.

_Relax, okay?_ Will replied. _Let's take it one thing at a time._

_No, let's not!_ Sabrina cried. _Either way, win or lose against Cynthia, we're going to find ourselves blacked out! Don't you think before you speak, boy?_

_ Well, if you hated my plan so much, why didn't you speak up? _Will asked.

_Because I thought you were smarter than this!_ Sabrina snapped.

_Too late to back down now, here comes Karen and Bruno,_ Will said.

Karen and Bruno came walking over to the three psychics.

"How did you get here so fast?" Liza asked.

"We know a guy who can teleport people using his Abra," Bruno replied. "We allowed him to help us out."

"So we're here, ready to make a statement for Team Rocket," Karen said. "Let's go."

The five of them walked into the Pokémon League headquarters, immediately met by a crowned Cynthia.

"Welcome," she told them. "I've been expecting you."

Sabrina gulped. From the very look in Cynthia's eyes she could tell that she was in trouble.

"Aren't you going to attack me?" Cynthia asked. "Or are you too scared?"

Karen tried to thrust her arms out and shoot out her dark powers, but she found herself absolutely frozen. Not only she, but all of the five Rockets were frozen. Cynthia simply smiled at her paralyzed opponents.

"Now that you realize that I'm just a bit more powerful than you may have thought, allow me to explain things to you," Cynthia told her foes, touching her crown. "I am Queen Cynthia of the Pokémon world, as while you were plotting to take me down, I was taking my rightful spot as the queen of this land. I now have absolute power in this land, and no one can do a thing about it. Especially not you."

She pulled out a camera, snapping a picture of the five trainers.

"Well, isn't that a shame, Team Rocket has been caught on camera, trying to invade the Pokémon League," she said. "Now all the television networks will have something interesting to put on the air, a bunch of Pokémon trainers who tried to take down the queen."

She looked over behind her shoulder, where Lucian was waiting. She tossed him the camera.

"Lucian will take care of that for me," she said. "As for you, you can all now go to a real jail."

A dark mist appeared around all of the trainers individually, until they were all surrounded by darkness. They now could not see anything, but they could hear Cynthia cackling.

"I'm sorry I can't talk to you longer, but I've got a job to do, ruling the Pokémon world," Cynthia told them. "After all, I am Queen Cynthia! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

She walked away from the five trainers, who remained there, motionless and surrounded by darkness.


	9. Aromatherapy

Chapter 9

Aromatherapy

Cynthia was not one to let her guard down, yet even she knew that she could not hold back her captured foes forever. Nevertheless, she at least hoped to keep them frozen in place long enough that they would think twice about ever attacking her again. That all changed, however, when she went to her room, where Lucian waited for her.

"Lucian! What a surprise to see you," she said, a little upset that Lucian was blocking her from reading his mind.

"Cynthia… oh, Cynthia," he replied, before putting his arms on her shoulders.

"Lucian… not right now," Cynthia protested, as he leaned in to kiss her.

"Oh, but everything's perfect now, isn't it?" Lucian responded, moving in closer.

"Lucian… oh…"

Then they kissed, enjoying a long and passionate kiss, causing Cynthia to momentarily forget about her captured opponents. It only took a split-second, but that was long enough for Liza to grab a Poké Ball and let her Medicham out, who then instantly punched through the dark mist, freeing all five trainers.

"What happened?" Will asked.

"I think she let her guard down," Liza replied. "Come on, let's get her!"

Sabrina reached her arm out to stop Liza from running on ahead. "No," she said, with a very cold voice. "We cannot defeat Cynthia. Let's go home."

"What?" Liza protested.

"You saw what just happened, Sabrina's right," Will added. "Let's teleport."

They did not have to worry about Karen and Bruno, because the two of them had already run out of the building, escaping as fast as they could. Moments later, the three psychics teleported away.

And the whole time, Cynthia knew what was going on, yet she could not bring herself to break away from her kiss with Lucian.

* * *

><p>Back at Sabrina's mansion, the three psychics were changed back into their normal clothes. Will was shuddering from thoughts of how Sabrina would react to what had just occurred. Looking into her eyes, he hoped to find a clue, but she showed no emotion whatsoever.<p>

"Sabrina, I'm sorry," he said, hoping to get a response out of her. "I really screwed up this time. I thought I had one of those grand ideas that you used to have when fighting Giovanni. Needless to say, it didn't work out."

Expecting a sharp response from his wife, he winced, but Sabrina gave no response. She just stared into space, looking sad, if anything.

"What's the matter, Sabrina?" Liza asked. "Aren't you going to make fun of Will? Come on, I'm looking forward to you insulting him!"

Sabrina remained silent. She completely confused the other two by giving absolutely no clue as to how she felt. Will thought she had every reason to blow up with anger, and he was ready to take her insults, yet she said nothing.

"Come on, Sabrina," Will said. "I know you're angry with me. Just say so."

After a pause, Sabrina finally spoke. "I'm not angry, Will," she said quietly. "Just… sad."

"Sad?" Liza questioned. "Come on, wearing a 'R' shirt isn't worth crying over! What could you possibly be upset about?"

Another pause ensued. "I want to speak with someone who understands," she told the other two.

"Someone who understands?" Will asked.

"For the first time in my life, I feel powerless, helpless," Sabrina replied. "I couldn't do a thing against Cynthia. Neither could you two, but you don't yet realize how bad of a situation we're in. I want to talk to someone who has never felt powerful… and figure out how they survive."

Will should have known better than to speak before thinking, but he did so anyway. "But we don't know anyone like that," he replied. "We aren't exactly the most social people."

"Speak for yourself," Sabrina snapped. "I do know someone, and I'm about to visit her."

Sabrina instantly teleported away, leaving Liza to snicker at her response to Will, while Will simply grinned. He was happy to at least gotten some response out of his wife.

* * *

><p>As the Celadon Gym Leader, it had been nerve-wracking enough for Erika that the Celadon Department Store had been attacked by a mysterious black hole before having to be torn down. But she was not just the Celadon leader, but also in charge of all the Kanto gym leaders. In that position, she was in charge of keeping the other gym leaders from absolute panic, which is what some of them were in right now.<p>

"What is the meaning of this?" Lt. Surge screamed on the phone. "Who does she think she is? She's no queen!"

"I understand, Lieutenant. I'm trying to find out more about the situation. Hold on, I have another call coming in."

"Like, who is this Cynthia, and why is she calling herself queen?" Violet asked.

"I'm trying to gather more information, and once I have it, I will let you know. I have another call…"

"Erika, get on the ball already and tell Cynthia that she can't be queen!" Gary yelled.

"I'm sorry, that is not my position, but I will do whatever I can to alleviate your concerns."

After trying to calm down several of the Kanto gym leaders, Erika could do nothing else but sigh. She was about to take a nap in her gym when she was suddenly interrupted by one more gym leader.

She was one who immediately drew Erika's attention – the psychic Sabrina from Saffron. Erika could only wonder why Sabrina would be concerned; after all, if there was one gym leader who would not be worried, it would be Sabrina, the one with psychic powers and the one, Erika felt, could probably get everyone out of this mess.

"Erika, I need your help," Sabrina said.

Erika stared at Sabrina as if the psychic was sick. Sabrina, needing help, from her? She could not believe it. Sabrina was as powerful as they came, while she was perhaps the most powerless gym leader. What could she possibly need her help with?

"What is it?" Erika asked, trying to remain professional.

"I want to know…" Sabrina replied, "what it is like… to be you."

Erika looked taken aback by this statement. Surely Sabrina could not care about her life. Sabrina had it all, a rich family, psychic powers, a husband… why did she suddenly want to know what it was like to be a plant-loving, hard-working, powerless girl?

"I don't understand," Erika said. "Why are you coming to me of all people for advice?"

"Erika, I'm powerless to stop the person behind the black hole attacks," Sabrina responded.

"Cynthia?" Erika questioned.

"So you've figured it out yourself," Sabrina commented.

"It only makes sense now that she made herself the queen," Erika remarked. "Obviously she must have some sort of power that she is ready to use against anyone who goes against her."

"And she used that power against me," Sabrina added. "I can't do anything against her. She's too powerful… I can't fight her."

"So you're wondering what it's like to be the one without any power?" Erika asked.

"I know that you've always been accepting of me, even though I haven't been normal," Sabrina said. "And yet, there was never any need for you to do so. You always treated me with respect, like a fellow human being, even when I didn't deserve it. Why?"

Erika simply smiled. "Because it was the right thing to do," she replied. "Sabrina, life isn't all about gaining as much power as possible. I know Cynthia looks powerful right now, but I've seen in the past how others have let power go to their heads and fallen mightily. You need not feel inferior because she has more power than you."

Sabrina sighed. "I feel weak, helpless, useless," she added. "If I can't defend my husband, then I don't deserve to have psychic powers."

"But you have those powers for a reason, just like I don't have them for a reason," Erika responded. "My place in this world is to help the Pokémon League by being in charge of the Kanto Gym Leaders, as well as growing these plants in this gym. Your place has been to use your powers to fight Team Rocket, which you did successfully. If your powers do not work against Cynthia, then it is not your place to be the one to defeat her."

"I know, but I just feel…" Sabrina began to say. "I just feel…"

"Like you're not using your own power?" Erika asked.

"Right," Sabrina answered. "I want to be able to use my power for something good, not just waste it."

"Relax," Erika said. "I am fully confident that there will be someone who manages to stop Cynthia."

"Who could possibly do it?" Sabrina asked. "She has such strong power, the duel powers of dark and psychic. There's no one I know that could possibly go up against that."

Erika took one of her smaller plants, showing it to Sabrina. "I know this is strange, but try to understand," she said. "This plant is very small right now, but in time it will grow into being a full-fledged plant bearing lots of fruit. The same goes for the one who can bring down Cynthia. That person may not have their powers fully developed now, but in time they will develop them and be able to use them to defeat her."

"But we have no time to waste!" Sabrina protested. "She can attack with her black holes at any moment!"

"Not now that Cyrus – the main suspect – is in jail," Erika responded. "If she wants to gain the trust of the Pokémon world, and get them to accept her as queen, she can't just attack anywhere she wants. She wants power right now, not to kill people. Let her have her power for a short time, before someone finally is able to gain the ability to stop her."

"But who could possibly be powerful enough to defeat her?" Sabrina asked.

"Someone will gain that power, and they will then manage to defeat her," Erika replied. "Just trust me on this one."

* * *

><p>In the Viridian City gym, Giselle began creating lots of little black holes, then walking over to them and touching them, causing them to disappear, as only one with dark power could.<p>

"Why are you making a mess of my gym?" Gary asked.

"It doesn't look like you're doing much battling," Giselle shot back. "Besides, I'm determined to figure out how to use this power, if I'm stuck with it."

She held up both of her hands for Gary, Melody and Joe to see. Instead of being covered with dark mist, as usual, they looked totally normal.

"See? I've figured out how to hold in my power. Now you don't have to be scared of me," she said.

"I still am," Gary replied.

"Why?" Giselle asked. "Because you're afraid I might-"

She then shot some of her dark energy at him.

"-try to suck you in?"

Gary jumped back, barely avoiding being touched by the streak of dark energy that sailed towards him. "What are you trying to prove?" he screamed in horror.

"I'm going to take down that Cynthia and show her who's boss of the Pokémon League," Giselle responded. "And when that's done, I'm taking that crown off her and becoming the new queen."

"No!" Joe shouted. "There won't be a queen after Cynthia! We can't have this land turn into a monarchy!"

"Relax, Joe, it's just going to be me," Giselle replied. "I promise you, I won't ever let anyone else take my crown."

"The principle of the thing is all wrong, though," Joe added.

"It won't be wrong if I'm wearing the crown," Giselle said.

* * *

><p>Will and Liza sat in the living room of the mansion, wondering what Sabrina was doing. Will began trying to telepathically figure out where she was, and he successfully found out that she was in Celadon City.<p>

"What's she doing in Celadon?" he wondered. "What is there that she doesn't have here?"

"The Department Store hasn't been rebuilt yet," Liza added. "Surely that's not it."

"If what I'm feeling is correct, she's talking to Erika, the gym leader of Celadon City," Will said. "Now I know they're friends, but Erika's completely powerless. She can't do anything to help us!"

"Why would Sabrina waste her time with someone who just grows plants?" Liza asked. "I'm sure there's nothing Erika can do to help."

"Great, so now Sabrina's wasting time chatting with a friend when we're in need of a plan to defeat Cynthia," Will remarked. "What a time for this!"

Suddenly Sabrina appeared back in the room, looking angry at the two of them.

"Erika did help me, believe it or not," she commented. "And I'm taking her advice."

"What advice is that?" Liza questioned.

"We are no longer going to be trying to fight Cynthia," Sabrina said.

"What?" Will asked. "Why is that?"

"We can't defeat her," Sabrina replied. "Someone else is going to have to do that."

"You're kidding, right?" Liza said.

"No, I'm not," Sabrina responded. "But if you want to go off and try to bring her down, by all means, go ahead, do it on your own."

Will began shaking his head. "No, no!" he exclaimed.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Cynthia sat in her room with Lucian, with an innocent smile on her face.<p>

"Interesting strategy," she commented. "Now it's time for Plan B."


	10. She's So Vain

Chapter 10

She's So Vain

Lorelei and Lance, both of whom were very suspicious of Cynthia, were called into the Elite Four meeting room by Lucian. Upon entering the room they saw Cynthia sitting on a throne, smiling innocently at them.

"Cynthia…" Lance began to say.

"That's Queen Cynthia to you," Cynthia replied. "Now take your seat and let me begin our meeting."

"Where's Agatha?" Lorelei asked as she sat down.

"She's not necessary," Cynthia responded. "Now let me make something very clear around here: I'll be making every decision for this league from now on, since I am the queen. You two don't have a say in anything anymore."

"But Cynthia-" Lance began.

"Again, I'm Queen Cynthia," Cynthia replied. "I want you two to go to Celadon City and pick up some flowers for me."

"Why all the way there?" Lorelei asked.

"Apparently the citizens there love me so much they are offering me a gift," Cynthia answered. "So hurry up and get them for me."

Lorelei sighed as she and Lance got up from their seats. "One question I have," Lorelei said. "Who is really behind all the black hole attacks? I'm sure you know."

"I do know," Cynthia responded with an innocent smile. "The answer is Giselle. Now please be on your way."

Lorelei and Lance left the room, not feeling very satisfied at all.

"I don't believe her for a minute," Lance said. "I may not like Giselle, but there's something to her all of a sudden becoming queen like this."

"She has to be the one who caused those attacks," Lorelei replied. "I'm sure of it."

Suddenly Cynthia appeared before both of them.

"You… you can teleport?" Lance asked in shock.

"That is correct," Cynthia answered. "And I am most displeased with your lack of faith in my leadership."

"I'm sorry," Lorelei said, "but we have a hard time believing you after you suddenly took this position of queen like this."

Cynthia smiled sweetly. "Oh," she said softly. "Is that all?"

In an instant, Lance and Lorelei found themselves trapped in barriers of dark mist.

"Perhaps you'd like to rethink your statements?" she asked.

"Now we know for sure!" Lance shouted.

"I'm glad you do," Cynthia replied with a laugh. "When you get out of there, make sure you go pick up my flowers. I'll see you later."

She teleported back to her throne, while Lance and Lorelei desperately tried using their Pokémon to free them from the mist.

* * *

><p>With Cyrus in custody and waiting to be put on trial for the black hole attack on the Celadon Department Store, Falkner was free to go, although the police officers told him he would be important as a witness at the trial. He left in a hurry and headed towards Saffron City to board the Magnet Train back to Violet. On his way he ended up bumping into Will as Will was heading home from work.<p>

"I seem to remember you," Falkner said.

"You were at my wedding, Sabrina Saffron and I were married at Indigo Plateau," Will responded.

"Oh, that's right," Falkner replied. "Have you happened to have any contact with Janine?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Will said.

"Okay," Falkner muttered. "That means she's either back at Violet or on another rampage, hoping to find the real one behind the black hole attacks."

"Good luck," Will replied as Falkner left.

While Will walked back to his mansion, Falkner took the Magnet Train to Violet City, hoping that he would see Janine back there. He could remember all he went through after he first met her, how she was one special girl, if a bit eccentric. He also thought about how fortunate he was to have survived the black hole attack on the Celadon Department Store.

* * *

><p>When he arrived back in Violet City, he immediately went to Janine's house, knocking on her door. To his surprise, she answered.<p>

"It's about time they let you out," Janine muttered upon seeing him.

"It took them a long time to figure out who committed that crime," Falkner said.

"Well, guess what? They've known about it for a few days now," Janine replied.

"What?" Falkner shouted.

"Yeah, that's right, they kept you in there even after they caught Cyrus, the man behind it all," she said.

"Cyrus," Falkner grumbled. "So he caused this all."

"Yes, but now there are new reports that they're saying that some Giselle girl was also behind the attacks," Janine added. "She attacked in other places, as an accomplice."

"Well, I wish them good luck in capturing her," Falkner replied.

"Good luck?" Janine asked. "_I'm_ going to be the one who captures her – and kills her. They showed her picture – she looks pretty distinct. I will take revenge on one of those who caused you that trouble."

"But she didn't have anything to do with it!" Falkner protested.

"She's a bad person, nonetheless, and if she's friends with the person who caused you to be stuck in that police station for all that time, she deserves it," Janine replied.

"Janine, this isn't worth it," Falkner said. "It's not like I got killed or something."

"They sure wanted you dead, didn't they?" Janine asked. "It's enough for me. Kill them before they kill you, right? I'm leaving."

"But Janine-"

It was too late. Janine bolted out the door, on her newest wild goose chase, this time to kill Giselle, who of course was _not_ behind the black hole attacks.

* * *

><p>After some attacks with their Pokémon, Lorelei and Lance managed to free themselves from the dark mist that surrounded them. Hoping not to offend Cynthia any further, they rushed out of Indigo Plateau and took Lance's Dragonite to Celadon City.<p>

"How can we defeat her?" Lance asked. "She attacked us in an instant, before we could even respond."

"She's obviously got some sort of psychic ability, to know what we were saying," Lorelei replied. "It would be impossible to sneak up on her."

"One thing's for sure, we're going to have to find a way to beat her, before she blacks out anyone else," Lance commented.

"Shouldn't we tell everyone that she's the one behind the black hole attacks, not Giselle?" Lorelei asked.

"No," Lance replied. "For one thing, most people won't believe us, now that she's made herself the queen. Plus, she'll know immediately that we did it, and she'll take revenge. Plus…"

He gave Lorelei a little smirk.

"I want Giselle to sweat it out a little bit."

* * *

><p>Will returned home to Sabrina, who appeared more relaxed than usual. He was quite curious as to why she was like this.<p>

"Aren't you even somewhat concerned about what Cynthia has up her sleeve?" Will asked her.

"Yes, but I can't do anything about it, so what's the point?" she replied.

Will sighed. "Sabrina, this isn't like you," he muttered. "Usually you'd be the one who'd be trying to figure out how to take her down. Instead, you just want us to sit back and let someone else handle it."

"What am I supposed to do, get us all killed?" Sabrina asked. "Right now Cynthia is way too powerful, she can do pretty much whatever she wants, and she'll know exactly when we would plan on trying to defeat her. She's probably listening into our conversation right now."

"That's impossible!" Will exclaimed. "You've told me that no psychic is that powerful!"

"Well, I was wrong," Sabrina responded. "She is more powerful than any psychic I've ever known… yes, including myself. Plus she has dark powers, which nullify anything I could do against her."

"Then it's hopeless," Will muttered.

"Not hopeless," Sabrina replied. "Remember Giselle, and her dark powers?"

"Yes, I do," Will said.

"It's very possible that she could become powerful enough to defeat Cynthia," Sabrina answered. "And she has every motivation to do so."

"I see," Will replied. "I just really don't like these waiting games."

"Neither do I," Sabrina added. "But that's all we've got right now."

* * *

><p>Lorelei and Lance arrived in Celadon City, where they began to wonder where to pick up these flowers that Cynthia wanted. They could see that construction had already begun on the new Celadon Department Store, but obviously that was not where to find them. Nor were there any flower stores around.<p>

"Let's check the gym," Lorelei suggested.

The two Elite walked to the gym, where they found Erika waiting for them anxiously.

"Oh, there you are!" she exclaimed. "I've been waiting!"

"Waiting for what?" Lance asked.

Erika ignored him, handing him and Lorelei all the flowers she had gathered. "These are for the new queen, Cynthia," she told him.

"Why are you giving these flowers to her?" Lorelei asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Erika replied. "She deserves to have a warm welcome as the new queen, and as the one who is in charge of all the gyms in Kanto, I want to be the first to congratulate her on her new position. So please, tell her to put these flowers all around the Pokémon League building, it ought to make the place look really nice."

Lorelei looked at Erika suspiciously. Clearly there had to be more than that to it; could Erika perhaps be working with the dark Cynthia?

"Do you know Cynthia?" she asked.

"Not at all, but I'd love to be able to meet her sometime," Erika responded. "Someday soon I want to go up to Indigo Plateau and see her."

The two Elite gathered all the flowers and began to leave.

"Thank you!" Erika called as they left.

As Lorelei and Lance went to board Dragonite and take off back to Indigo Plateau, they began to talk about Erika's generosity.

"Something's not right," Lance commented.

"I know," Lorelei added. "Why is she so buddy-buddy with Cynthia, if she supposedly doesn't even know her?"

"And it's this city where one of the black hole attacks occurred," Lance remarked. "I wouldn't be surprised if…"

Lorelei then shook her head.

"That's just not possible," Lorelei said. "We have background records on all the gym leaders. We would know if Erika had special powers. She is completely powerless."

"Are you sure?" Lance asked.

"I'm positive," Lorelei answered. "There's no way she could be behind any of this."

"Perhaps she developed her powers, like Giselle…" Lance wondered.

"Don't try to overanalyze this," Lorelei replied. "This is a simple gift, that's all… there's no way Erika could have assisted Cynthia. Come on, let's go."

The two boarded Dragonite and took off towards Indigo Plateau.


	11. A Dark Secret

Chapter 11

A Dark Secret

Karen and Bruno arrived in Mahogany-3, the former Mahogany Town. Their journey to arrive there from Indigo Plateau required a hike through Victory Road, a walk down a mountain, before finally finding another man with an Abra, who offered to teleport them anywhere they wanted. Bruno was curious as to why she would choose this city, but he remained silent.

"Those three weren't the Team Rocket type anyway," Karen told Bruno, referring to Sabrina, Will and Liza. "Don't worry, we're going to get Rocket's glory restored."

She led him to the gym of the newly-developed city. They entered to find Gold there training with his Pokémon.

"K-K-Karen?" Gold stuttered, shocked to see the formerly jailed trainer in his gym. "W-what are you doing here?"

"To recruit you, that's what," Karen replied. "You are joining Team Rocket!"

"Team Rocket? Are you kidding?" Gold shouted.

"Relax, boy," Karen replied. "I'll tell you the whole story in due time, you just come along with me."

"No way!" Gold replied. "I'm not joining an evil organization!"

Karen sighed. "Look, boy, Team Rocket is the only hope remaining for this world," she told him. "Want proof?"

"Yeah!" the indignant Gold replied.

"All we need is a television," Karen said.

Gold reluctantly led Karen and Bruno to his house, turning on the television. The news reporters were talking about how Cynthia wanted Giselle captured at all costs.

"Giselle? Why her?" Gold asked.

"Haven't you been paying attention, boy?" Karen questioned. "Cynthia has set herself up as some sort of royalty with the use of her powers, while she blames Giselle for the black hole attacks."

"Her powers?" Gold wondered.

Bruno sighed. "Cynthia has extreme dark powers that she's using to gain all the power she wants," he explained. "Perhaps you know a psychic named Sabrina?"

"Yes…" Gold responded.

"She is utterly powerless against Cynthia," Bruno answered, as Gold looked at him in disbelief.

"That's why Team Rocket must be the ones to take down that royal pain," Karen explained.

"Wait, so you mean this Team Rocket is going to work for good?" Gold asked.

"The new Team Rocket isn't concerned with good or evil, we're just concerned with getting rid of Cynthia," Karen replied. "Now are you with us or not?"

Gold thought about it for a minute. "Okay, fine," he said. "But I'm not getting roped into doing anything wrong. And…"

He gave Karen a wry smile.

"I'm not wearing one of those ridiculous 'R' shirts."

"All right, all right," Karen replied. "Now come on, we've got to get more trainers if we want any chance at taking down Cynthia."

* * *

><p>Lorelei and Lance brought the large collection of flowers and plants into the Pokémon League headquarters. They were surprised not to see Cynthia around, but they just went along with putting the flowers all over the building. Lance remained completely suspicious of Erika, but he felt completely helpless about the whole situation.<p>

Meanwhile, Cynthia and Lucian were in a room with a large video screen in front of them, on which appeared Team Galactic members Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

"You are to head to Saffron City immediately and carry out my latest task," Cynthia told them.

"What's in it for us?" Jupiter asked angrily. "Our leader Cyrus is locked up!"

"Relax," Lucian replied. "Cyrus will meet you there… we'll have him freed."

"And then what?" Saturn asked. "You'll frame us again?"

"No, no, no," Lucian responded. "We have a new scapegoat this time."

"What scapegoat?" Mars questioned.

"We're putting this blame all on Sabrina," Lucian answered. "Just relax, we've got it all figured out."

"Now be on your way," Cynthia added, before turning off the screen.

Lucian looked over at his girlfriend, who adjusted her crown on her head while smiling innocently.

"You thought you were off the hook by running away, Sabrina," Cynthia remarked. "I'm sorry."

* * *

><p>A couple hours later, Erika was busy fixing her plants in her gym, when she received a videophone call. She was shocked to see on the screen an image of the new champion, and queen, Cynthia.<p>

"Q-queen Cynthia!" Erika gasped. "I am honored to receive this call."

Seeing a look of worry on Erika's face, Cynthia motioned for her to calm down. "Relax," she replied. "I just wanted to thank you so much for the flowers."

"Oh, you're welcome, Queen Cynthia," Erika responded. "I am so happy that you like my gift."

"Yes, I do like them, and my assistants have put them all over the building," Cynthia continued. "Now for what I've called you."

"Yes, Queen Cynthia?" Erika asked anxiously.

"Have you seen the gym leader of Saffron City lately, Sabrina?" Cynthia questioned.

"Why, yes, Queen Cynthia," Erika responded. "And I know for a fact that she is currently staying around her home in Saffron."

An innocent-looking smile appeared on Cynthia's face. "Thank you for the information, Erika," Cynthia replied.

"I have one request, Queen Cynthia," Erika said.

"And that is…?" Cynthia questioned.

"Please, allow me sometime soon to visit you at Indigo Plateau," Erika requested.

"Oh, you're always welcome," Cynthia replied. "Feel free to stop by anytime you wish."

"Thank you, Queen Cynthia," Erika responded.

Cynthia hung up from the conversation, allowing Erika to breathe a sigh of relief. Unlike anyone else, she actually treated Cynthia like she was the queen she claimed to be, and because of that, she worried what kind of reaction Cynthia may have if she became angry. Yet Cynthia was completely friendly to her, which made her feel comforted.

* * *

><p>As Sabrina sat down to eat a meal that evening with Will, she lamented that Liza was not around, as she had teleported back to Hoenn for the time being.<p>

"So, you miss the little bugger after all?" Will asked.

"Shut up," Sabrina responded. "I like her level of confidence, that's all."

Will grinned. "She's now more confident than you," he commented. "Interesting, I thought your little talk with Erika would clear your mind and bring you back to normal."

"Oh, what do you have against Erika?" Sabrina asked. "You know, Erika did help me realize that maybe some things are out of my control."

"Why?" Will questioned sharply. "Is Erika satisfied with things as they are, having a queen taking over?"

"No, she's not, I'm sure," Sabrina answered. "She said someone will bring down Cynthia eventually."

"Eventually? Is that what she hopes, or what she knows?" Will asked, getting angrier.

"Obviously what she hopes," a tenser Sabrina replied. "She's not a psychic, of course."

Will groaned. "So you're just going on someone's hope?" he questioned. "She hopes everything will be all right, and you're fine with that? That's not the Sabrina I know. The Sabrina I know and love would have read Erika's mind back and forth and only felt good over that if she knew for sure Erika had foresight of her own."

Sabrina paused for a minute, completely frozen in thought. She was totally stunned, both motionless and emotionless. Will feared at first that he had pushed his wife into a fit of rage, but then suddenly figured out there was something more to it.

"What is it?" he asked with concern.

"I – I didn't read Erika's mind," Sabrina said nervously.

Will looked at her in confusion.

"I – I – I couldn't," she finished her statement.

That was enough to send Will into the same state of shock. He knew for sure there was no psychic whose mind Sabrina couldn't read, except one – the dark psychic Cynthia. And if she could not read Erika's mind, that could only mean one thing.

_Erika has dark powers herself,_ Will told Sabrina telepathically.

_It's not true,_ Sabrina protested telepathically. _That just can't be!_

_Do you know what this means?_ Will asked.

_No, no, _Sabrina continued to protest. _No!_

Tears began to run down Sabrina's face as she thought of her best friend (besides Will) as a potential enemy.

* * *

><p>Cynthia's words came as an utter shock to each and every one of the police officers at the Celadon City police station.<p>

"Let him go."

"We can't!" Officer Jenny protested. "We know for sure he caused the black holes, or at least we're very sure of it."

"It's for your own good."

"Why?" another officer asked. "Are you on his side?"

"I am warning you out of my own compassion for you."

"Compassion?" a third officer questioned. "What kind of threat is that?"

"You have ten seconds."

The police officers looked at each other frantically. _Ten seconds?_ Officer Jenny thought._ What is she going to do, set off a bomb or something?_

The other officers were standing in stark refusal to Cynthia's orders. However, Jenny, much like the corrupt Jenny in Olivine City and another one who worked for Giovanni before getting killed, was spineless and weak. She backed down at the last second and shouted out – "Wait!"

Cynthia smiled warmly as Jenny left the room, then came back a couple of minutes later with Cyrus.

"He's free," Jenny said. "Now please tell us why you let him go."

The Sinnoh League Champion remained silent, simply continuing to smile. Suddenly all the police officers fell over, fainting.

"Go ahead, Cyrus," Cynthia told the one remaining person in the room. "Go outside and meet up with your colleagues. And don't ever say I haven't helped you!"

"Thank you, Queen Cynthia," Cyrus replied, feeling very grateful. "But won't they-"

"Their memories will be erased of this incident," Cynthia continued. "Now follow the plan your teammates have for you."

"Sure thing, Queen Cynthia," Cyrus said, before walking out of the police station.

Cynthia hung up, then looked over at Lucian and gave him a sweet smile.

"You're amazing," he told her.

"I know," she replied.

* * *

><p>Cyrus walked outside, to see his Team Galactic comrades Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, calling back several Electrodes into their Poké Balls.<p>

"We're sorry, boss," Mars said. "If we didn't threaten to blow you up, we're sure Cynthia would have found a way to kill us, and Team Galactic would be no more."

"Don't worry about it. I know we have to find ways to please her until we've achieved our goal, then everything will be fine," Cyrus replied. "Besides…"

He created a small black hole with his hands.

"She wouldn't have killed me anyway, I'm the only one of us with the dark powers, you know," Cyrus said.

The other three began wondering how Cyrus would have been able to survive the explosion of the police station, but he cuts them off from their train of thought.

"Anyway, what plan does she have for us this time?" he asked. "It better be a good one."

Saturn handed Cyrus a map.

"See that mansion? You have to find a way to swallow up its insides in a black hole," he told him.

"Easy enough," Cyrus replied. "Let's go."

The four Team Galactic members began walking the short distance to Saffron City, preparing to black out Sabrina's mansion once and for all.


	12. Clueless

Chapter 12

Clueless

"We have reports from Celadon City that Cyrus has escaped from jail. Cyrus is the man who allegedly created a black hole inside the Celadon Department Store, killing at least 100 people. Police say they have no recollection on how Cyrus escaped. They are currently investigating…"

Silver turned off the television. "That's it!" he muttered. "I can't take this bad news anymore."

"But Silver," Jasmine replied, "we can't just run away from the truth."

"You know what, I can't be the hero every time," Silver said. "I helped bring down Team Rocket twice, I think that should be enough for me."

There was a knock on the door of their house. Jasmine walked over to open it, and she was happy to see Whitney and Gold, though a little concerned about seeing Karen and Bruno.

"Uh… hello?" she said.

"Hey, what the heck are those two doing out of jail?" Silver asked. "Moreover, what are they doing with you?"

"Listen, Silver, it's hard to explain," Gold remarked. "But Whitney and I are now members of Team Rocket."

Silver immediately punched Gold in the nose, causing both Whitney and Jasmine to scream.

"Now, now, boy," Karen interjected. "This is the new Team Rocket, devoted solely to taking down the woman who calls herself the queen of this land – Cynthia."

"We pledge to remove Cynthia from power no matter what it takes, because she is the one ultimately behind the black hole attacks that have occurred recently," Bruno added.

"What was that?" Silver asked.

"Cynthia's the one with the dark powers, the one who created the black holes," Whitney answered, using a handkerchief to clean up Gold's now-bleeding nose. "Someone has to stop her, and that's why I agreed to join Gold and this new Team Rocket."

"I would never join Team Rocket," an indignant Silver replied. "I spent the last couple years of my life working to bring them down, and now you want me to help you bring them back? No way!"

"It's not the same Team Rocket as before," Gold muttered to Silver, looking at his half-brother with scorn.

"Look, boy, we need all the help we can get," Karen said. "I thought I could bring Cynthia down, but she's my former mentor, and she is clearly more powerful than me. That's why I've changed the plans for Team Rocket from carrying out Giovanni's plans, to taking out the one who does not belong in charge of this land."

Jasmine looked at Silver seriously. "Silver, their intentions seem pure," she told him. "We really should help."

"Why should I believe _him_?" Silver asked, pointing to Gold. "How do we know they're not just making this up?"

"I've seen Cynthia's power with my own eyes," Bruno said.

"And you know of the reports of Giselle wanted captured, dead or alive, don't you?" Whitney asked. "Don't you think those are a little suspicious, especially considering we worked with her?"

Silver sighed. "I guess you're right," he replied. "Fine, then, Jasmine and I will help, but we refuse to be recognized as official Team Rocket members, is that understood?"

"Whatever," Karen said. "Just don't go around punching our members, will you?"

Silver then reluctantly apologized to Gold before walking out of the house to be with the members of the new Team Rocket.

* * *

><p>That night, Cyrus followed Saturn's map, leading the Team Galactic members in the direction of Sabrina's mansion.<p>

"This is the mansion of the famous psychic Sabrina, isn't it?" he asked. "That means we can't have you three interfering and allowing her to detect us. She can't detect someone with dark powers as myself, but she sure can feel you. So, what I ask is for you to cause some problems somewhere else."

"Silph Company?" Mars questioned.

"Perfect," Cyrus responded.

The three Team Galactic commanders walked towards the Silph Company building while Cyrus continued toward Sabrina's mansion. Meanwhile, Sabrina began to have strange premonitions.

"I feel as if something bad's about to happen to the Silph Company," she told Will.

"Do you think we need to do something about it?" Will asked.

"I don't know," Sabrina responded. "The feeling I'm getting is a little different than usual. It's almost as if someone wants me to go there."

"Then don't go there," Will said. "They can take care of themselves."

Cyrus arrived outside of Sabrina's mansion. Wasting no time, he pressed his hands together. Instantly a small ball of dark energy began to appear, slowly beginning to grow larger. Meanwhile Will and Sabrina remained clueless to Cyrus's actions, as his dark powers blocked them from being able to sense him.

"I don't think there's any reason to go to Silph, if you think there's no reason to go after Cynthia," Will reasoned. "Let's just relax here."

Sabrina thought about it for a moment. "You're right," she responded. "They have security, they should be fine."

The ball of dark energy grew larger and larger. Cyrus looked around himself, noticing that there was no one on the streets watching him, and his ball of dark energy was obscured by the growing darkness of the night. He smirked, then pushed his hands out, getting ready to push the energy ball into Sabrina's mansion. All he needed to do was control it for several more seconds, and the mansion would be engulfed in darkness.

"Queen Cynthia, you should be pleased," he whispered.

* * *

><p>In the Viridian City gym, where Joe, Giselle, Gary and Melody had been staying for several days now, three of the trainers were sleeping in sleeping bags in a closed-off portion of the gym. But one of them was busy training, both her Pokémon and herself.<p>

"That's it, Cubone," Giselle called. "Dig again."

Cubone dug underground, then popped out of the ground right as Giselle pushed some dark energy into him. The amount of force was so great that he slammed right through a wall, creating a giant hole.

"Oops," Giselle said.

Gary woke up with a start. "What the heck was that?" he asked angrily. "What are you doing, girl?"

"I'm sorry, I seemed to have wrecked your gym," Giselle told him.

Gary's mouth dropped wide open when he saw the hole in one of the walls. He stared at Giselle with the angriest of glares.

"You – you – you-"

"I know," she snapped. "But what are you going to do about it?"

"If you weren't a girl, I'd-"

"Oh, save it, boy," Giselle replied. "If I wanted to, I could just…"

She created a small black hole right in front of Gary.

"…suck you in," she finished.

"If you keep playing with fire, you're going to get burnt!" Gary screamed.

"Not with my Cubone and Starmie!" Giselle lectured. "They are fireproof! They would never get hurt in such a fashion!"

"Oh, forget it," Gary said. "Just don't kill us all."

He went back to bed, still fuming, but feeling a bit helpless. Clearly Giselle was growing so powerful that he didn't want to accidentally upset her and cost himself his life.

* * *

><p>Cyrus slowly controlled the dark energy, which was just about to engulf Sabrina's mansion. All he needed to do was control it long enough to swallow the front of the house, and the black hole would do the rest.<p>

"I've got it," he said.

"Got what?"

Cyrus suddenly found himself in a girl's arms, and they were not loving. One of the arms held him by the stomach, and the other held a sharp object to his neck. He immediately began losing control of the dark energy, and it began to dissipate.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"That doesn't matter anymore," his attacker replied.

She was about to stab him, when she found herself grabbed by Saturn. The three Team Galactic commanders began punching and kicking her, and she dropped Cyrus to the ground.

"Just in time, huh, boss?" Mars said.

"Thanks," Cyrus replied. The ball of dark energy began to grow larger again, as he went to finish the job, while his attacker, Janine, lay on the ground being kicked over and over again.

"You're through, girl," Jupiter taunted. "Just give up."

Janine simply smiled.

"Aaaaahhhhh!"

"Cyrus!"

Cyrus dropped to the ground instantly, finding himself stabbed in the ankle. He quickly lost all control of the dark energy, and this time it began to disappear for good. Meanwhile, with the commanders distracted, Janine was up on her feet, and she quickly escaped from the scene.

"Quick, we've got to get him to the hospital!" Mars yelled.

"But they'll arrest him!" Jupiter protested.

"He's got to finish the job!" Saturn shouted.

"Look at him!" Mars screamed.

Cyrus was writhing in pain on the ground, leaving the commanders no choice but to take their leader and rush him to the Saffron Hospital.

* * *

><p>Late that night, Lucian and Cynthia were enjoying a very intimate moment together, when suddenly Cynthia broke away from her boyfriend in anger.<p>

"What is it?" Lucian asked.

"Cyrus failed me again," Cynthia responded.

"You can't count on those fools," Lucian remarked, touching her face.

"Oh, what does it matter?" Cynthia commented. "I've got you."

The two immediately went back to their intimacy.

The next morning, Sabrina and Will turned on the news, finding out all about Cyrus.

"Cyrus, the man allegedly behind the black hole at the Celadon Department Store, had escaped from the Celadon jail yesterday," the reporter said. "However, he was found in a Saffron hospital late last night after reportedly being stabbed in the ankle. Police say they have no suspects as of this time."

"Saffron?" Will questioned. "Could that somehow have been the incident you felt?"

"Who knows?" Sabrina asked. "At least for once something happened that didn't involve us."

"You hate to see someone get stabbed like that, even if he was a criminal," Will commented. "I'm sure he didn't deserve that."

Perhaps some of the dark mist from the ball of energy remained in the air that morning, preventing Sabrina and Will from sensing what had really occurred.

_I__ failed__ to __gain__ revenge,__ Falkner,_ Janine thought. _I__ couldn__'__t__ kill__ him,__ I __was __outnumbered.__ But __I __promise__ you__… __I__ will __kill__ that__ Cyrus,__ and__ anyone __else __who__ creates __those__ black __holes__… __including__ this__ Giselle, __who __supposedly __does __as __well._

Janine went on sneaking off through the land of Kanto, as she continued on her manhunt. Only a girl with a bit of insanity would do something so severe, but there was no mistaking Janine's insistence – anyone who was even remotely an enemy of hers or Falkner's would die, no matter what the cost. And so she kept on traveling, hoping to find these foes.


	13. No Need For Lorelei

Chapter 13

No Need For Lorelei

Silver, Jasmine, Gold and Whitney all met together in Whitney's gym in Goldenrod City, where they felt would be the best place to organize their plans, from such a central location.

"Defeating Cynthia is not going to be easy," Bruno suggested. "She has the duel powers of psychic and dark, and if you're weak to even one of those, she will take you down in an instant."

"She overpowers me with her dark powers, and Bruno with her psychic powers," Karen added. "She can use both at once without even a thought, it's so easy for her."

Jasmine looked over at Silver with worry, while Gold gave a look of confidence. "We've beaten giant Pokémon before," he said. "We have such skills with our Pokémon training that we can work out of the toughest of situations."

"Are you sure?" Whitney broke in. "If I'm not mistaken, we've had to be bailed out quite a few times as well."

"It would sure be nice to have that one girl on our side," Jasmine commented.

"What girl?" Silver asked.

"Giselle, she's the champion, right?" Jasmine remarked.

"Oh, anyone but her!" Silver shouted. "She'd have to be the big leader, and then we'd all have to do whatever she wanted! There's no way I'm going through that again!"

Karen looked angrily at Silver. "That girl is exactly who we need," she said. "She must have some sort of power, or Cynthia wouldn't want to get rid of her so badly. That's exactly who we've got to try to get on the new Team Rocket."

"Hey, I said I wasn't a member of Team Rocket!" Silver protested.

"Put a sock in it, boy!" Karen shouted.

"All right, all right!" Whitney broke in. "Enough arguing! We need all the help we can get, right? If we're going to stop this land from being ruled by a monarch, we're going to need to gain more support."

Silver sighed. "I guess you're right," he said. "But where to find her?"

"If this queen can't find Giselle, certainly we can't, either," Gold commented.

"Nonsense!" Karen yelled. "She's one of your friends, right?"

All four of the Johto friends gave Karen a blank stare.

"Right?"

"Yes," Jasmine meekly replied.

"Okay, so you should know something about her," Karen said. "Like where she would run to if she was in danger."

"I don't know that!" Silver protested. "It could be anywhere in the Pokémon world!"

Bruno looked sternly at Silver. "No one could hide for this long, unless they were a ninja," he remarked. "She would have to have someone helping her, hiding her in some fashion."

"Who would do that?" Gold wondered. "Maybe Sabrina?"

"No, Sabrina had nothing to do with her," Karen replied. "It would have to be someone else. Think hard… what other friends of yours do you know?"

The four Johto trainers began thinking long and hard. Finally, Whitney had a thought.

"Well, we are friends with Gary, the leader of the Viridian Gym," she suggested. "It's possible that if there was an emergency, he would help any of us. He and his girlfriend met Giselle a long time ago, and maybe that's where she went."

Gold smiled. "Whitney's right," he said. "And even if she isn't there, we could get Gary on our side, I'm sure he'd help us out."

"Then that's the plan," Karen replied. "We head immediately to Viridian City. If we could at least get one more person on our side, it would be a big help."

* * *

><p>Cynthia took her place on her throne, with Lucian sitting nearby. Lorelei, Lance and Agatha walked in, prepared for whatever Cynthia had called them in for.<p>

"By now you must know that Cyrus has escaped from prison," Cynthia told them. "I remember Giselle meeting Cyrus personally back when there were some problems in Sinnoh with Palkia. Lucian and I agree that it is very likely that Giselle was the one who freed Cyrus from prison."

Lorelei simply sighed, but Lance became belligerent. "How long are you going to think that we believe your lies, Cynthia?" he yelled. "We know for a fact that it's you who has the dark powers, and you're the one behind all the black hole attacks!"

"You mean, like these?" Cynthia asked.

"Cynthia, don't do it," Lorelei pleaded.

Cynthia shot a ball of dark energy at Lance, entrapping him in it, but not sucking him in.

"There you will stay, until you learn some respect for the queen," Cynthia told him. "As for you two, you have a choice: go find Giselle and bring her to me, or take a timeout like Lance."

"I'm on my way!" Agatha exclaimed, scrambling to leave the room.

Lorelei just stared at Cynthia. Cynthia smiled back, waiting for her to make a move.

"You want to fight me?" Cynthia asked. "Go ahead and shoot your ice beams at me."

Lorelei grimaced, angry about Cynthia reading her mind and letting Lucian know her thoughts.

"Ooh, now you're thinking about attacking Lucian, maybe he's defenseless," Cynthia added. "Go ahead, Lorelei, Lucian's ready for a fight."

Lorelei thought about it for a moment, then suddenly turned towards Lucian, trying to shoot ice beams out of her hands. But before she could even begin to send the ice in his direction, she found her movements frozen, and a dark mist hovering over her.

"I have no need for you anymore," Cynthia said. "The Elite Four will be eliminated from existence, replaced by the queen and her lover. You, Lorelei, shall be the first to die."

* * *

><p>Cyrus woke up in his hospital bed to find himself being treated by doctors. His first thought was to run away, but he could not move the leg on which he had been stabbed. Then he looked across the room to see Mars, Jupiter and Saturn just standing there.<p>

"What the heck are you guys doing here?" he screamed.

"It's too late, Cyrus," Mars said.

"You're already under arrest," Jupiter added.

"Don't try to get away," Saturn remarked.

Cyrus was shocked by their responses, before realizing that his three commanders were not suspected by the police. Thus, he reasoned, they should leave him and try to carry out Cynthia's orders.

"I see how it is," Cyrus said somberly. "All I can suggest is to obey the queen."

"We will make sure of it," Mars replied.

* * *

><p>"Get out!"<p>

Melody's ear-piercing scream came as a shock to both Joe and Giselle, the latter of which had wrecked several walls of Gary's gym.

"But if I don't practice my powers, I'll never be able to use them correctly," Giselle protested.

"Get out of here! Go in the forest or something!" Melody yelled.

"Yeah, I agree, there's no reason for my gym to continue to be destroyed," Gary added.

"But Giselle is wanted dead or alive!" Joe protested. "You know the reports!"

"Oh, she can take care of herself," Melody replied. "We're no longer going to cover for her."

"Fine," Giselle said. "If that's the way you want to be…"

She took Joe's hand and walked out the front door of the gym.

* * *

><p>"Giselle, we're going to be in trouble," Joe told her.<p>

"Oh, relax," Giselle replied. "What's the worst that could happen?"

They began walking toward the forest, but they were stopped by an Officer Jenny.

"Hey, you're that Giselle!" she screamed. "You're under arrest!"

"Gotta go now!" Giselle replied, beginning to run away.

"Get her, Arcanine!" Jenny yelled.

Arcanine ran after Giselle, bringing her down. But before Arcanine could bite her, Giselle's Cubone stuffed a bone in its mouth, then brought down the fiery dog Pokémon with an Earthquake attack.

"Let's fly away!" Giselle told Joe.

She sent out her Pidgeot, while calling back her Cubone. The two of them then flew off into the distance on their flying Pokémon.

* * *

><p>Sabrina and Will were joined by Liza that evening, who was eager to do something, while the other two were not feeling like getting into any sort of trouble.<p>

"What about this girl you've been talking about?" Liza asked. "Erika?"

Sabrina looked down sadly. "She's one of my best friends, and yet – she may have dark powers."

"So, you mean that she's partially to blame for these black hole attacks?" Liza questioned.

"Just because someone has dark powers doesn't make them evil, right, Sabrina?" Will suggested.

Sabrina sighed. "I've always believed that there was a moral chasm between those with psychic powers and those with dark powers," she explained. "My belief was that everyone had psychic powers, they just didn't realize it – except for the truly evil people in our society, those who have dark powers. Karen seemed to prove that point to me, because she was a member of Team Rocket, and she had dark powers."

"But she's not quite as evil as that Cynthia," Liza commented.

"Cynthia of course is the biggest example of my theory," Sabrina replied. "But there's Giselle, a girl who just seems to be arrogant, not evil… and possibly Erika, the most kind-hearted girl I know. I can't imagine either of them being evil."

"So, are you admitting that maybe – just maybe – you were wrong?" Will questioned.

"I wouldn't mind being wrong in this instance," Sabrina responded.

"Okay, then, what should we do about it?" Liza asked. "Maybe we should go visit Erika and see if she's evil or not!"

Both Will and Sabrina glared at Liza. "Seriously?" Will asked.

"Yes, seriously!" Liza replied.

"If she _is_ evil, we'll be no match for her," Will explained. "We can't do much against those with dark powers."

Sabrina sighed. "I couldn't bring myself to fight Erika, anyway," she added. "I'm just going to have to hope that she doesn't use those dark powers for evil. I know Erika well, and I would never think that she would do something like that, but…"

Sabrina's words trailed off as the thought of Erika helping Cynthia crossed her mind.

"But what are we going to do, just sit around and wait for Cynthia to black us all out?" Liza asked.

"Erika suggested…" Sabrina began to say.

"Erika could be on their side!" Will protested. "Her advice is, for all we know, potentially harmful."

"But I trust her!" Sabrina snapped.

"And we don't," Will replied.

"Fine, then," Sabrina said. "Let's go about it your way, the way of just jumping into whatever problem may be around, whether or not it is a smart idea or not."

"I'm not saying _that_," Will protested.

"Then what are you saying?" Sabrina asked.

"I- I'm not sure," he stuttered. "I guess you're right, the 'wait and see' method is the only thing we've got going for us right now."

"And that is what we will do, until the right opportunity comes up," Sabrina said.

Liza frowned, as of course she was all ready to begin fighting Cynthia.

* * *

><p>Lorelei stared at Cynthia with fear, as Cynthia stretched her hand out. But to Lorelei's surprise, she found herself able to move again. Instantly, she went back to attacking Lucian with her ice beams, but Cynthia simply teleported in front of them, then flicked them with her fingers. The ice beams came flying right back at Lorelei, who suddenly found herself frozen inside a block of ice, as the dark mist descended on her.<p>

"So, shall I freeze her to death?" Cynthia asked Lucian.

"No, kill her now, or she'll find a way to escape," Lucian replied.

"Very well, then," Cynthia said. She then held out her hand, and Lorelei collapsed inside the ice block, unconscious.

"Is she dead yet?" Lucian asked.

"You're so impatient," Cynthia responded. "Just wait a minute."

Cynthia walked over to the frozen, unconscious Lorelei, then began to create a black hole with her hands. "Soon, you will disappear from this world forever," she told the silent Lorelei.

"No!"

Lance's Dragonite burst out of the ball of dark energy, with Lance on his back. Dragonite then came flying at Cynthia, breaking her concentration.

"Be careful, Cynthia!" Lucian cried.

"Relax, Lucian," Cynthia replied. She simply held her palm up, and Dragonite crashed right into it, falling over. Lance dropped from Dragonite onto the frozen block of ice containing his wife, and he breathed fire from his mouth to free her. Cynthia just smiled, watching him free his wife from the ice, as he picked up her unconscious body, ready to escape on his Dragonite.

"Where shall you run?" Cynthia asked.

Lance looked around the room in horror, seeing dark mist surrounding the entire room. He then saw Cynthia creating a black hole with her hands.

"You _will_ die," Cynthia said sternly.

"Hyper Beam!" Lance cried.

Dragonite launched its Hyper Beam at Cynthia, who simply absorbed all of its power right into her hand. While Lance looked at her in shock, Dragonite struggled to try to recharge.

"Come on, Lucian," Cynthia said, grabbing her lover's hand. "This room shall be blacked out."

"What about your throne?" Lucian asked.

"Oh, if you insist…" Cynthia replied.

Lance looked at his two enemies in disbelief as Lucian picked up the throne and began carrying it out of the room. He turned to his Dragonite.

"Hyper Beam, again, and this time at the man!" he yelled.

But Cynthia simply teleported in front of the Hyper Beam and sucked it all into the black hole she was creating.

"Face it, boy, you will not escape this room – dead or alive," Cynthia stated. "I'll allow you to count down the remaining seconds of your life… 10 to go before my black hole swallows the two of you."

She then followed the throne-carrying Lucian out of the room, through one doorway without dark mist blocking it. Lance immediately thought to follow the two of them, but he found himself suddenly motionless, as Cynthia was stopping him from moving. Meanwhile the black hole, now growing on its own, began to fill up the room.

"Die," Cynthia said, as she turned around to face Lance one last time.

Then everything went black.


	14. Sabrina's Suffering

Chapter 14

Sabrina's Suffering

It was a desperate move, one that Lance thought of in the final moments of the black hole closing in on him. But it was perhaps his only choice, so no matter the result, it was worth the try.

His idea was to have his Dragonite blast its Hyper Beam at _himself_, while he held Lorelei. The hope was that maybe the beam would push the two of them through the dark energy that was about to close in on them. Then he would try calling back his beloved Dragonite into its Poké Ball at the last second, so Dragonite could escape too.

And amazingly enough, it worked.

The blast was just enough to get through a small portion of the dark mist, and it was so much that it sent Lance and Lorelei flying not only out of the room, but all the way through the side of the building, and rolling down the hill that surrounded the Pokémon League headquarters. Dragonite was safe inside its Poké Ball, while now both Lance and Lorelei were knocked unconscious, lying amongst some trees.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Cynthia was well aware that her prisoners had escaped. She sighed, then simply shrugged her shoulders and smiled warmly.<p>

"What is it, Cynthia?" Lucian asked her.

"Oh, it's nothing," Cynthia replied. "Now it's time we find out about those Galactic fools."

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all squeezed into a small booth where they turned on a videophone, hoping to contact Cynthia. When they saw Cynthia's face, they noticed that she was smiling sweetly.

"Oh no," Mars said. "She's mad."

"Listen to me, fools," Cynthia commanded. "I have one quest for you, and that is to bring me the psychic Sabrina."

"How could we ever do that?" Jupiter asked. "She's a psychic. She could teleport away from us at any second."

"I didn't tell you how to do it, I just told you to do it, and that is an order from the queen," Cynthia responded.

"Yes, Queen Cynthia," Jupiter replied.

They turned off the videophone, then began to think of a strategy on how to capture Sabrina.

"This is impossible!" Jupiter cried. "We have no chance!"

"I know, but we have to," Mars replied. "You don't want to upset the queen when she's already angry."

"Maybe we talk her into visiting Cynthia," Saturn suggested. "That might be our only chance."

"Most likely Sabrina views Cynthia as a villain," Mars replied. "We can't just have them meet up all happily."

"Then we pretend to join up with Sabrina in a quest to take down Cynthia," Saturn said. "It can't be all that hard."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Lucian was wondering what Cynthia could possibly want with Sabrina.<p>

"You don't need to rid the world of her, she's helpless against you anyway," Lucian commented.

"No, but I want to see her die right in front of my eyes, helpless as ever," Cynthia responded. "And maybe I'll torture her a little beforehand. Relax, I'm not counting on those fools, I'm beginning to control Sabrina's mind at this very moment."

"I love how you think, my queen," Lucian said.

"And I love when you call me that," Cynthia responded, as Lucian placed his hands on a very delicate portion of Cynthia's body.

* * *

><p>Sabrina was sitting in her room alone, resting, when she suddenly felt a very uneasy feeling. She quickly rushed out of it to see Will, who was watching television.<p>

"Will, something bad is about to happen," she told him.

"Relax, okay?" Will replied. "I thought you wanted us to sit back and do nothing."

"Not this time," Sabrina said. "Come on, we've got to get out of here."

"Where to?" the ever-excited Liza asked.

"The root of the problem," Sabrina responded. "To the queen's castle, so to speak."

As they were about to teleport to Indigo Plateau, they heard knocking on their door.

"Who could it possibly be?" Will asked.

He opened it to see Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

"Who the heck are you?" he asked.

"We are Team Galactic, and we wish to take down Cynthia," Saturn said.

"It's a lie!" Liza yelled. "This is what you felt bad about, Sabrina – these are the people who have come to get you."

"No, it's not that," Sabrina replied. "We just have to get to Indigo Plateau immediately."

"Then you go there while we deal with these liars," Liza replied.

Will stood next to Sabrina. "I'm going with you," he told her.

"Fine, let's go," Sabrina said, and the two of them suddenly teleported off to Indigo Plateau.

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn looked at each other in confusion. "What was that?" Jupiter asked.

"Solrock, Psychic!" Liza shouted.

Liza's Solrock used Psychic on the three Galactic members to send them flying across the street. They ended up bruised badly, yet all three were smiling. For some reason, Sabrina was doing their work for them.

* * *

><p>Sabrina and Will wasted no time when they appeared at Indigo Plateau. They walked right into the headquarters building and headed in the direction where Sabrina sensed Lucian's presence. When they arrived, they saw Lucian with his hands on Cynthia's chest.<p>

"Oh, you're here already?" Cynthia asked. "Well, we can't do this in front of them, can we, Lucian?"

"We can do whatever you want, my queen," Lucian responded.

"Step aside, Lucian," Cynthia told her lover, who promptly did so. "Now, Sabrina, what are you here for?"

"I – I – I don't know," Sabrina said.

"You are here to have your life ended in a miserable fashion at my command," Cynthia responded. "Isn't that right?"

"Yes… yes…" a controlled Sabrina replied.

Will gasped in horror. "What are you doing to her?" he shouted.

"Step aside, boy," Cynthia commanded, throwing him across the room with her finger. Will then found his motions frozen as Cynthia grabbed Sabrina and threw her to the ground.

"It's finally time to reveal who the greatest psychic in the world is," Cynthia said. "And that would be…"

"Queen Cynthia!" Sabrina shouted.

"That's right," Cynthia replied, laughing at seeing Sabrina reduced to having no thought process of her own. "Now, how shall I torture you?"

_Torture?_ Will thought in terror.

"Oh, I know," Cynthia said. "I'll have to loosen my grip on controlling you for a while, but it'll work."

Cynthia then allowed Sabrina to regain her own thoughts again, but she then began controlling her mind in a different way – by making her think every negative thought she had ever imagine. Every bad memory, every time she suffered, everything she wanted to forget – it was all brought to the forefront of her mind. She screamed out in mental pain, writhing on the ground as she tried to gain control of her mind again.

"Your life is useless," Cynthia told her. "Isn't that right?"

Sabrina just continued to scream in agony.

"Isn't that right?" an angry Cynthia asked again, before kicking Sabrina in the face.

"No!" Sabrina cried.

Cynthia kicked Sabrina in the face again.

"You are worthless!" Cynthia shouted. "And I am the queen!"

She kicked Sabrina a third time. Blood spilled out of Sabrina's mouth and onto Cynthia's high heels.

"Look what you've done now!" Cynthia screamed. "I ought to kill you! And, I think I will."

She took her right foot, with its high heel, and stepped right on her head, causing blood to squirt out.

"You shall die," Cynthia told Sabrina.

But just as Cynthia's shoe was about to crush Sabrina's skull, Will appeared in front of Cynthia and pushed her with all his might, knocking her over.

"Oh, I lost focus for a second there," Cynthia laughed. "It's okay, because I'll kill the both of you together then."

However, before Cynthia could launch a ball of dark energy at the two psychics, Will grabbed the lifeless Sabrina's hand and had them both teleport away.

"They got away!" Lucian cried.

"It's okay, she suffered so much, she shall fear me for the rest of her life," Cynthia responded. "I would have preferred to see her die, because I'll never have that chance to kill her again."

"Why not?" Lucian asked.

"Because she'll be too scared to face me, so she'll never come back," Cynthia explained.

"But you controlled her mind there! You could just do that again!" Lucian protested.

"Are you a fool yourself?" Cynthia questioned. "You don't understand my powers… I transferred some of them to the Team Galactic members, and as they approached her house, they used them to confuse Sabrina. Those were the powers that made me the strongest psychic in the world. Now that they're gone…"

"Now that they're gone?" Lucian shouted.

"Oh, relax, Lucian, only the most extreme of my powers are gone," Cynthia explained. "I am back to being on your level as a psychic, and I still have every bit of my dark powers. It was worth sacrificing them in order to bring pain and suffering to that girl."

She then pointed in the direction of her room.

"Make me happy," she commanded Lucian, and the two headed off to her room.

In the Saffron Hospital, Sabrina was placed into the Intensive Care Unit, bleeding so badly that Will found himself all red just from carrying her. "Is she going to live?" he asked one of the doctors.

"No," the doctor replied sternly.

As Will looked closer at the doctor, he saw the doctor's nametag, which read "House."

"Look, boy, your girlfriend is about to die, and you better just go start making the funeral preparations," the doctor continued.

Will punched the doctor in the face. "You shut up and work on saving her life!" he screamed.

_Relax,__Will,_ a voice came to Will.

_Sa-__ Sabrina?_ Will asked telepathically. _Is__ – __is__ that__ really__ you?_

_Yes,_ Sabrina replied. _I__'__ll__ b e__ all__ right._

_But __Sabrina!_Will protested. _You__'__re-_

The doctor suddenly pushed Will to the ground. "Look, loser, get out of this place," he told Will. "I'll be sure to give you her dead body."

"I'll kill you!" Will shouted.

"Please don't," a Nurse Joy broke in, who was standing right next to Will with an Officer Jenny, ready to arrest Will for punching the doctor.

"This must be some sort of mistake!" Will shouted as Officer Jenny grabbed him and began pulling him.

"Take him away," Nurse Joy said.

Officer Jenny took Will out of the hospital, and immediately walked him to his house.

"Why are you taking me here?" he asked.

"Shut up!" the Officer Jenny yelled.

She opened the front door and shoved Will inside, then slammed the door behind her.

"What happened to you?" Liza asked the beaten Will, who was lying on the ground.

"It's a long, long story," Will replied. "Just be glad that Sabrina's alive."

Meanwhile, the doctor, Nurse Joy, and Officer Jenny all suddenly shook their heads, wondering where they were.

"What happened?" the doctor asked.

"I don't know," Nurse Joy replied.

_I__ wanted__ Will__ to __leave __me __alone__ and__ allow __me__ to__ recuperate__ on__ my__ own,_ Sabrina thought. _It__ may__ have__ required__ controlling__ the __minds __of__ three__ people__ at__ once,__ but__ it __was __worth __it._

She then fell asleep… although the doctors wondered if she would fall asleep for good.


End file.
